Re beat
by Agetada
Summary: One day Sasuke finds himself three years in the past. Unable to go home, he stays, following young Naruto's every move with unhealthy obsession, forgetting all about his own younger self... NaruSasuNaru, SasuSasu , WNB psychological
1. Is he dreaming?

**Disclaimer:** The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**Summary:** One day Sasuke finds himself three years in the past. Unable to go home, he stays, following young Naruto's every move with an unhealthy obsession, forgetting all about his own younger self… NaruSasu, (SasuSasu), WNB psychological

* * *

**Prologue - Is he dreaming?**

Sasuke lies on his bed, staring at the roof of the Uchiha mansion. He is awake, but he hasn't moved and inch for half an hour. His head feels like it is going to shatter into pieces if he dares to move it, and his limbs feel heavy and saggy.

To say it shortly, Uchiha Sasuke is sick. He had got himself a fever a few days ago when he hadn't taken good care of himself. After coming back from an exhausting mission he hadn't listened to Sakura's advice of resting but had immediately gone sparring. Well, he had overestimated his power and had fainted to the training field. Good thing Sakura had told Naruto to be there to watch over him.

So now Sasuke has to pay for his miscalculating and stay in bed for two or more days. Gladly Naruto and Sakura and even Kakashi are kind enough to come and help and keep company to him no matter how much of an ass he might be to them.

But like he had done earlier, with not at all good results, he underestimates his need of rest and tries to stand up. 'Tries' being the key word, because as soon as his burning hot skin has contact with the cold floor and he tries to put all weight on his trembling legs he realizes this was no good idea at all. And that's mainly all of his thoughts before he blacks out and falls to the floor.

* * *

Bright sunlight shines through a window and shines upon a young man lying on the floor. The man twitches and opens his eyes slowly, blinking them heavily many times before they stay open.

Sasuke looks at the roof of the Uchiha house, breathing heavily. He turns to his left side and stands slowly up, holding his head in his hand. He moans quietly as he sits onto the bed behind him. After his mind has cleared he lays himself to the bed, his hand stretched in front of him, lying halfly on the thin pillow.

Sasuke should now only rest and not move at all, as he had already seen what had happened when he had only tried to stand up. But he really does not feel as tired as he should feel.

Sasuke stares at the wall long before him. He blinks once and looks at the bed where he is laying on.

The covers of the bed are folded neatly over the bed.

Sasuke pushes himself slowly up to have a good look around the room. The window, floor, table and chair are all the same. It really is his room.

But if he had fainted right after he had come out of bed, who had come to his room to put his covers on place but had left him laying on the floor?

Sasuke stands up and turns to smooth the covers before leaving the room, watching out for intruders. There is something eerie about all this.

The door opens with no sound and Sasuke checks out the area for anyone before he steps out and closes the door again. He is in the hall of the Uchiha household, but it is not like when he had last seen it. The wallls should be the colour of light lilac from the time when Sasuke had been assigned to a solo mission and Sakura and Naruto along with the late come help of Kakashi had decided to cheer him up a bit and had painted the walls of the hall lilac. Sakura had even painted there some cherry blossoms with a darker shade to always remind Sasuke of her.

But the walls Sasuke now sees are white and flaky. Just like they had been for god knows how long until Sakura and Naruto had removed it from the way of the lilac painting.

Sasuke stares at the hall. It is empty, completely empty, except for a lonely chair standing there. The chair shouldn't be there. Sasuke had moved it elsewhere a long time ago. Instead there should be a drawer and a mirror hanging on the wall and a small shelf on the floor for shoes.

Sasuke's eyes are wide as he stares around. His heart beats rapidily and he turns to open the door to the kitchen. But he never even manages to step into the kitchen, because he stops in the doorway and only stares, his eyes big and horrified.

The kitchen is clean, which it shouldn't be, because Naruto was the last one to visit him before he fainted and he had cooked for Sasuke. Knowing Naruto he wouldn't have cleaned the kitchen this well.

He couldn't possibly have cleaned it to look like it had looked a long time ago.

Sasuke leans his head against the doorway. Is he dreaming? Or is this genjutsu? But how could it be? How could anyone have examined the Uchiha house so well it looks precisely like it had looked when Sasuke was sixteen?

Sasuke breathes sharply. "Release!" he shouts out, his voice echoing eerily in the empty kitchen, but nothing happens. "Release!" he tries again, this time with more chakra. Nothing happens. The kitchen is as eerie and quiet as before.

Sasuke turns around and closes the kitchen door. He breathes slowly and deeply to calm himself down. This must be a dream. Just a dream.

But even if Sasuke would like to believe it is a dream, he doesn't really believe it himself. How could any dream be this real and detailed? How could any dream feel this agonizing?

Sasuke walks briskly but quietly to the far part of the house, to the store room. No matter if this is a dream or not, he would prepare well for anything.

Sasuke slows his pace as he nears the store room's door. He steadies his breath. The door is the colour of a faded mahogany. It is just like it had been years ago.

Sasuke encourages himself and opens the door.

The room is quiet and dark. A thick layer of dust is covering every visible inch of the room. Sasuke walks in and leaves the door open. He couldn't breathe otherwise.

All the weapons, most of them with the familiar crest on them, lie there long forgotten. After the massmurder Sasuke had stepped here for the first time at the age of seventeen.

So if this really is what he thinks it is, he can walk freely in the room, leaving footprints everywhere in the thick dust. _He_ wouldn't come here in a year or more.

Sasuke lands his hand onto a katana near the doorway. He knows it. It is the katana he chose as his own when he first came here to have a look around. It has followed him everywhere ever since, and has yet got no more than a few scratches on its scabbard.

Sasuke pulls the katana to himself and embraces it. It is the only source of security in this insane situation.

Time seems to not have moved at all as Sasuke only stands there holding his beloved katana, but he knows he has to hurry. _He_ could come home any moment.

Sasuke walks further into the room, leaving his footprints to show his way. He doesn't care, because he knows _he_ won't come here. And even if _he_ would, Sasuke would be far away already.

Sasuke opens a trunk slowly, frowning at the creak coming from it. Once it is completely open, Sasuke looks at the dark red fabric covering the contests of the trunk. He removes it and touches the perfectly made kunais that he knew would be under the silk.

But Sasuke does not take the kunais yet. He stands up and looks around in the store room, trying to remember where everything is. He turns around on his heels to a shelf full of different kinds of weapon holsters and backpacks. His hand stops right before the shelf as he freezes on the spot to listen.

Had someone come in?

He sharpens his senses, standing at the same position for a time that feels like two hours to him, but finally he blinks his dry eyes and takes a deep breath. He moves his hand and takes a weapon holster, a backpack and a belt with two holsters attached to it.

Then he bent and opens a drawer under the shelf. His moves are already sure and he moves with confidence, like he has been here many times.

Sasuke takes out three rolls of bandages and puts them into his backpack. Then he closes the drawer and opens another under it. His moves are getting quicker as he takes out a pair of long gloves, puts them on and closes this drawer too. Then he turns around to the trunk full of weapons.

Quicky but carefully Sasuke starts choosing out weapons to fill his holster and backpack with. He decides to take only the basic weapons, because he really hopes he won't need even them at all.

Finally Sasuke has taken as much as he can carry, and he puts his belt on but leaves the holster in his backpack for now. He is going to stand up, but he stops in the middle of the move. He takes the dark red silk that was covering the weapons and takes his sweet time to tie it onto his head in order to cover his hair. It would reveal him too easily.

Then Sasuke closes the trunk and stands up. He takes one turn to his right and takes a black cape out of a shelf, then leaves the storeroom.

He wipes the dust from his shoes before he steps out and closes the door. Silently but quickly he walks to the front door and stops, sharpens his senses to find out if anyone is too close. But he senses no one, so he opens the door and jumps with a few great leaps to the wall surrounding the Uchiha household.

He turns to give a long look to the silent, dead looking Uchiha household, then to the lively village on the other side of the wall. He smiles softly, then jumps to the woods and runs far away from his home.

* * *

**A/N:** So, this fic tells the story of Sasuke, when one day he faints and finds himself three years in the past. As he realizes it is no illusion, he has to accept it and live under a false identity, but it is not easy with Naruto so close and still so far, and the young Sasuke gazing at him every time they meet...

As the plot of this fic is just Sasuke's stay in the past, I'll try to portray Sasuke's inner world and thoughts properly, because they are the idea of this fic. That is why I put the 'WNB psychological' to the summary.

If you read this far, feel free to leave a comment; how you liked this prologue and was it really confusing.


	2. It is always Naruto

**Disclaimer:** The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N: **I changed the prologue a bit. Now, whenever it's old!Sasuke's POV and young!Sasuke is mentioned, young!Sasuke will be in _italics_, eg: 'Sasuke looked at _him_ and _he_ did this and that and…' It'll be like this whenever it's old!Sasuke's POV.

This story consists of two kinds of textes: ones where it is old!Sasuke's POV and ones where it is the young Team 7's POV. When it's Team 7's POV, they obviously don't know this new guy is really Sasuke. This chapter starts with Team 7's POV.

I hope you understood my explainings. Feel free to ask if you didn't.

* * *

**First chapter – It is always Naruto**

"Afraid you'd lose, you chicken?"

"I am afraid I'd win too easily because you're no match for me."

"And Sakura is?"

"She's got more intelligence than you."

"Are you call - ?"

"Boys, shut up."

"Hey, what's that?"

Sakura's comment stops the friendly argue of Sasuke and Naruto, makes Sai turn around and gets even Kakashi's attention away from his beloved book, Icha Icha Cooking.

"There, look."

At the direction where Sakura is pointing is a black bundle leaning against a tree. When they look closer, they realize it is a person, a young man wrapped in a black cape.

"He looks sick", Sakura says, looking at the man. "He's even paler than Sai."

Sai just smiles, not having read of how to react to a comment like that. Sakura walks to the man, Naruto right behind her.

"Hey… Wake up", she taps the man's shoulder.

The man startles. Quickly he kicks Sakura away and jumps up. A kunai flies at Naruto who dodges the slightly clumsy attack easily. Naruto draws a kunai out himself and is all ready to attack the man, but the frightened stare in his eyes stops him. He looks scared, like he has seen something no one should ever see.

Then the man takes a step back and breathes a few times deeply. "I'm sorry. I thought you were going to attack me…" he says slowly with a slightly rasp voice. "I didn't mean to attack you."

Sakura stands up from the ground where she fell when the man kicked him. "That's alright. I was just trying to wake you up because you looked sick..."

The man smiles softly. "I'm fine, thank you. Just a small fever."

Sakura blushes under the man's black gaze. "It doesn't look that small; your skin is white and you have lines under your eyes."

"This is how I always look", the man smiles and wraps the cape tightly around him. "But thank you for you concern." The man turns around and starts walking away to the woods.

Team 7 only stares after him even though he has disappeared a long time ago. Finally Sakura sighs dreamily.

"He was drop dead gorgeous."

"Didn't you just say he looked sick?" Naruto frowns.

"And his voice was so sexy…"

* * *

Sasuke leans against a tree surrounding a clearing, tightly wrapped up in his black cape to stop the cool wind from lurking to touch his bones. His eyes are closed, and his chest is rising slowly, like it is under a heavy burden, and even through his dreamless sleep he can feel how his head feels like a huge ball of steel attached to his weak, thin neck.

He was not supposed to fall asleep, of course not. He was only going to stop for a moment and think of what to do, but somehow he had given up and let himself rest his heavy limbs, and had fallen asleep just like that.

But he doesn't scold himself of what he had let happen, because slowly he forgets everything that has happened in the past thirty minutes, and falls into a comfortable ignorance.

So Sasuke has no idea of where he is and who he is when someone touches his shoulder. He doesn't know who touched him, but he assumes it is an enemy, so he kicks the enemy away and jumps up, seeing another person near him with his blurry eyes, and blindly throws the first weapon he found at the other one. Only then does he really see what is going on, but he is not at all relieved that it really wasn't an enemy who had touched him.

Because there is Sakura and Naruto in front of him, and behind them he can see Kakashi and Sai, all looking younger than they should. And the worst thing is staring at him in the eyes, because he sees himself, younger and healthy looking, having _his_ eyes fixed upon him. And even horrified he gets as he doesn't know the message behind that look, behind those eyes that are really his. He should, because they are the same, and Sasuke has already lived through _his_ life, so he should be reading _him_ like an open book. But he doesn't know what _he_ is thinking, and he feels like he has lost control of his own body and someone is using it to destroy his whole life and take everything dear to him away from him, after all he had done to let a few people near him.

His breath gets caught up in his throat and he steps back.

The slight movement clears his head up a bit, and quickly he covers his fear with a mask of exhaustion and tries to delimit _him_ out of his vision. "I'm sorry", he says to Sakura who lies on the ground in front of him. "I thought you were going to attack me…" Sasuke is surprised how rusty his voice sounds after only few days of the fever, but he is glad of it, because someone could have realized how much his voice sounds like _his_. "I didn't mean to attack you."

"That's alright", Sakura says, standing up. "I was just trying to wake you up because you looked sick…"

Sasuke looks at Sakura and tries to smile a genuine smile. He feels like a bundle of fear and nervousness, because he still feels _his_ stare at him, and on the other hand there is Naruto looking at him for way too long, not saying a word. Not laughing, not smiling, not even frowning and calling him a bastard. He just is. "I'm fine, thank you. Just a small fever."

Sakura blushes and Sasuke tries to focus his eyes on the colour on her cheeks. Her politeness is easing him, and he is getting a grip of his role as someone who does not know these four at all.

"It doesn't look that small; your skin is white and you have lines under your eyes."

Sasuke smiles again, and this time it is not fake at all. _'You have already said that I look like a mix of Sai and Itachi. Then you blushed and said you were sorry, and I just looked at you. Then you started laughing, and Naruto laughed too, and I smiled with you…'_ "This is how I always look, but thank you for your concern." Sasuke turns around, eager to get away from the eerie staring of himself. He keeps on walking with a brisk pace, trying his best to not start running, because that would only raise their suspicions. That would make _him_ suspicious, and _he_ would not give up easily…

He walks and walks until he can't hear or feel the young team 7 anymore, and even then he doesn't stop. He only buries his head in his hands and lets out a noise that resembles a sniff.

How horrible it had felt, to be stared at like a complete stranger by your closest friends. To be stared at by yourself. To not know what you think...

And most of all, how insecure he had felt when Naruto had looked at him with no sign of recognition.

It had not moved him much that Kakashi didn't recognize him. He was only relieved. And Sai he couldn't care less, that bastard who had taken his place… Sasuke clenches his fist. _'But that was my fault too, like everything seems to be…'_

Only Naruto's unfriendliness had mattered.

Only Naruto.

Bright sunlight shines onto Sasuke's tired eyes and blinds him for a moment. He stops to wait for his vision to clear. As he sees again he notices he stands at the border where the forest ends and Konoha's busy streets start.

This is where he has to decide what to now. But how can he? He has done so many wrong decisions before. Hell, his life has been nothing but a bunch of wrong decisions.

Naruto is the only right thing in his life. Naruto who constanly and forever is there for him, saving him from every wrong decision he has made, always guiding him to a peaceful life with no pain and loss.

And Sasuke constantly and forever seemed to give in, bent and realize what he should do and that there is a life waiting for him if he only were to reach for it. But only the surface of Sasuke did, and under him there was a tough cover protecting his real self from anything that could touch him.

But no matter how tough he tried to make the cover or how deep he buried himself, Naruto always had the energy to find cracks in his shell where to put his wedge and hit. He always seemed to be there, digging Sasuke up from the darkness and showing him the side of sun that does not burn but warm.

And slowly the surface on Sasuke that was only supposed to be there to distract curious eyes had grown, reaching deeper and deeper until it had become the real Sasuke.

And that Sasuke, the one who believes he can still do something about his life stands there now, looking at the bright sun shining on the painfully familiar but still so different streets of Konoha.

Maybe this is a second chance given to him. Given by whom? Gods, maybe, if Sasuke believed in them. But he doesn't, so he only smiles softly to himself and turns to the road on his left. He had made his decision. The right one, and it waits him only a short way ahead.

So Sasuke walks, trying to calm his beating heart. The right choice always needs sly acts and sacrifices, and that is what he has to do now. He should not be afraid of that. Anything for…

Anything for what? Naruto? Anything to see Naruto everyday even in a situation like this?

'_Of course'_, Sasuke says in his mind. _'Of course it is for Naruto. It is always Naruto… It was always only Uchiha Sasuke for everyone else, but it was always Uzumaki Naruto for me. I just never realized…'_

Then he stops thinking about what for he had done this, because his choice lies there in front of him, as if only waiting for Sasuke to come and sly his way into Naruto's life.

'_Go for it, idiot. You get second chance only once.'_

So Sasuke sits down to a chair of Ichiraku's.

Ayako, the girl who had worked in Ichiraku probably for her whole life, sees Sasuke and steps out from behind the curtain that blocks the view to the kitchen. "Hello, what would you like, mister?" she asks, smiling prettily. She would be in charge of Ichiraku with her fiancé in a few years, remembers Sasuke.

"A bowl of miso ramen, please", he says and thanks himself for being so sick that he went sleeping without changing clothes. There is some money in his pocket, enough for a bowl of ramen. But it wouldn't last for long.

"Coming right up."

As Ayako leaves to make the order, Sasuke looks after her and starts to think about a life for him, a cover story to tell everyone in case someone would ask. But why bother? He could just say he doesn't want to talk about it and be silent.

But this is his second chance, and you get only one of them in a lifetime if never, and that is why he can't just shut up and glare if some one asks him about his life. This time he would be someone who could show his emotions and laugh along with everybody. He would try his best to be like that, even if it would require faking smiles and telling lies. _'Only half lies'_, Sasuke reminds himself, because he is not going to fake his whole life, he is just going to cover it with a _modified truth_. A modified truth lived by… Shiroyama Hiroshi.

Sasuke almost laughs out loud as he remembers mission 'Hiroshi, Namie and Nakatsu'. They had got a mission where they had to protect the Fire country's emperor's daughter from assasins, and they had had to go undercover for that mission. Naruto who had been assigned to be the lady's guard had chosen to be simply Nakatsu, a guy who was always smiling and flirting with every good looking person who passed him. Sasuke chose the name Shiroyama Hiroshi, and as he was to be Naruto's guarding partner, he somehow turned out to be a brooding guy who always blushed whenever 'Nakatsu' looked at him. Sakura was the lady's personal guard under the name Himejima Namie, and she played the part of tough and understanding, somehow mother like woman.

The mission itself had been easy but long, and they had to use their cover names constantly, and after the mission had stopped, they had sometimes called each other with those names until the habit had silently died off. But still today, sometimes Naruto would look at Sasuke and say something like: 'Hey, Hiroshi, wanna have a 'break' with me?' and then Sasuke would blush and turn away and mutter: 'Shut up, Nakatsu, we're on duty'.

"Here you go." Ayako gives Sasuke his order, stopping his day dreaming at once.

"Thanks", Sasuke says and takes a pair of chopsticks.

"You look new here", Ayako says, leaning against the table, looking curiously at Sasuke.

Sasuke gives a glance at her. "Do you claim you know everyone here?"

"Not everyone, but most. And I'd definitely remember a face that pretty…" She laughs at Sasuke's blush.

"Well you're good. I just moved", Sasuke says, "but not from far. I lived on the other side of Konoha…"

"I already thought you're from some other village", she smiles. "I'm Ayako, nice to meet you."

"I'm Hiroshi", Sasuke smiles at the girl. A fake smile. "Do you own this shop?" he asks, taking another bite of his ramen.

"Not yet", she smiles. "It's dad's. But when he retires, it's all mine."

"Your ramen is great", Sasuke smiles again. This is all part of his plan, keeping her close to him, acting friendly and slightly unsure. But he hadn't lied about the ramen; it really is great. "Mine aren't nearly this good."

"You make your own ramen?" Ayako asks surprisedly.

"Yes, sometimes. My friend loves them, so I learned to make them to surprise him…" Without noticing it himself Sasuke's voice dies down and he blushes as he remembers the first time he had made ramen. It was for Naruto, of course, and Naruto had told him they tasted great 'although a bit too sweet, did you pour all sugar you had to these?' and Sasuke had pouted and said he would never make him ramen again if he was that unthankful.

"Just a friend?" Ayako laughs as she sees Sasuke's blush.

Yes, just a friend. What do you mean? What else? "A friend", Sasuke mutters, and turns his gaze away. His blush has not died down but he is trying his all to calm it down. _'Idiot.'_ He was supposed to be someone who would not just shut up and turn away whenever he would come across something that he didn't want to admit. "Maybe more than that…" he mutters even more quietly.

How come he had not realized it before? He had always thought it was just Naruto following him around, but maybe it was the other way around. Maybe it was Sasuke who always was there next to Naruto, feeling comfortable in his presence, calming his lone heart with Naruto's laugh.

Sasuke then remembers something that had happened only a year before… or two years from now on, he should say now. And it had been Ayako saying it just like now.

They had been sitting in Ichiraku, their whole big reformed team 7. Yamato, Kakashi, Sai, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, taking all of Ichiraku's available benches, talking loudly amongst themselves of whatever had happened to their friends and what stupid things the Hokage had done again. Then Ayako had come, serving them their bowls, having a small conversation with everyone. Then he had turned to Naruto and Sasuke who were sitting next to each other on the other end of the table.

'Always together, aren't you', she had smiled and laughed just like she does all the time.

Naruto had laughed too. 'Well, yeah, it's nice to have friends around you', having thought she had talked about all the six of them.

Ayako had smiled to him and turned away, but she had given a meaningful look to Sasuke and winked before turning around and leaving to the kitchen.

That time Sasuke had let it pass as some strange woman thing, but as he now thinks of it he realizes the look Ayako had given to him that time is the same as what Ayako had given to 'Hiroshi' just a moment before, asking if this friend is really just a friend.

"Hopefully you'll do something about this 'friend' of yours", Ayako says, once again waking Sasuke from his thoughts. "Because believe me, you'll lose your only chance if you just wait and wait for some sign."

'_What if I have already got a second chance to make it all right?'_ "I'm just so sick of my wrong choices that I want to be sure before I do anything." _'And that's what I'll be doing here… Making sure of it, because no matter what people say, I'm a coward when it comes to things like this.'_

"Well, maybe you'll get lucky and someone blesses you with a sign", Ayako says, "but really, don't wait forever if there comes none. You have to grab the moment."

'_Doing it already'_, Sasuke smirks in his mind, but on the outside he smiles softly. "Well, thanks for the advice, not that I think I'm brave enough to go for it…" He stands up. "I have to leave now, I need to find a job. It was nice talking to you, Ayako." Sasuke turns around and leaves, walking slowly away, sounting seconds in his mind. Would his plan work?

"Oy, Hiroshi", Ayako calls after him.

Sasuke smirks victoriously. "Yes?" he turns around, a slightly surprised look on his face.

"You said you could make noodles, right? Would you want to work for me?"

Sasuke smiles delightedly. "I guess I should never turn down a job offer, so… yes."

"Great." Ayako claps her hands happily. "You can start now. Our best customer is coming soon so I need an extra pair of hands."

That would be Naruto… Sasuke's heart jumps in a way he has noticed never before. He puts his hand to his heart and walks back to Ichiraku, following Ayako to the kitchen.

This moment seals his stay here, for however long it would be. Sasuke is now a part of Ichiraku's staff, part of the place that Naruto visits many times a week. This means he would see Naruto almost every day, either walking past or coming to have something to eat…

But that means _he_ would be here too. And if Sasuke were to get too close to Naruto or talk to him in a too friendly manner, _he_ would look at him for a long time, glaring, subconsciously marking him as an enemy.

But Sasuke is not going to give up just because of _him_. This would be a perfect chance to make _him_ jealous, so jealous _he_ would start thinking why he even is feeling such emotion, and at the same time 'Hiroshi' would be talking to Naruto about Nakatsu and how he is an idiot for not realizing earlier he loves him. Then he would turn to look at Naruto and say how much he resembles Nakatsu… Then he would turn away and ask if Naruto loves _him_.

But even if the answer would be yes, even if _he_ would realize what is the burning pain in his heart, then what? _He_ wouldn't do anything, Sasuke knows that - _'but do I really know him?'_ - and no one knows of Naruto, Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja… And what if Naruto's answer was yes, and _he_ had gotten some sense and would admit it to Naruto. What then? Would it make any difference? When he would get back, would he and Naruto be together? Would he have some memories he wouldn't remember? Would this have ever happened?

Would he ever get back?

"Hiroshi!" Ayako waves her hand in front of Sasuke's face. "You awake?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize you called me…" _'Didn't remember who I'm supposed to be.'_

Ayako leans closer to have a good look at Sasuke. Sasuke has the urge to hit her away, but he manages to calm himself.

"Are you okay? You look sick."

"I'm recovering from a cold, but nevertheless, this is how I always look."

"What, grey and dead?"

Sasuke twitches slightly. "Well, usually I'm white…"

Ayako laughs and pats Sasuke. "I think we'll get along well, Hiroshi."

"Yeah…" Sasuke mumbles, looking at the street in front of Ichiraku. Would they recognize him?

Would Naruto recognize him?


	3. Why had he said that

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's except for Ayako

**A/N:** Sorry for the lateness, I have had many pages of text ready for a long time, but I never had the time to type it to computer. Nevertheless, hope you don't find this chapter too confusing.

**Notes:** I have no idea how ramen is made, I've seen it only once but it was different kinda ramen than what they serve in Ichiraku so I'm making it all up.

And the young Team 7 doesn't recognize Sasuke easily because he has matured and looks more like Itachi, he is sick so he looks kinda dead and now as Hiroshi he tries to smile so he looks like Sai. But let's see what will happen…

Next chapter will continue from where this left off. I cut it because it was becoming so long and I'm already quite late with my update.

* * *

**Second chapter – Why had _he_ said that?**

"C'mon, Sasuke. Do you wanna miss all the fun?" Naruto moans and pulls Sasuke's hand.

"Yes, if it includes ramen."

Sakura sighs as Naruto gasps in a dramatic way. "Sasuke, usually I'm on your side about going to Ichiraku, but today I'd like some ramen too."

"Yeah, Sakura, way to go girl!" Naruto yells.

"You just want to go there 'cause Ayako might know some rumours about that earlier guy…" Kakashi mumbles to his book.

"And gosh; did I hear right? Kakashi just offered to pay for all the ramen we eat", Sakura says, way too happily and girly to be normal. "Right, sensei?" she turns to Kakashi, mad glint in her eyes.

"Is that true, sensei?" Sai asks, smiling at Kakashi scarily.

"I… uh – well, maybe… But don't eat much!" Kakashi stutters before Naruto 'wohoo's and drags Sasuke to his favourite ramen stand with incredible speed.

* * *

Once Sakura, Sai and Kakashi catch up to Naruto and Sasuke with their normal pace, Naruto had already ordered and is having an onesided conversation with Sasuke.

"Hi", he smiles to them as they take their seat. "I ordered for you too: two misos, one pork, chicken and shrimp 'cause I'm not sure what you like the best. I'll just take what's last 'cause I like them all."

"What's for Sasuke?" Sakura asks.

"He said 'whatever' so he'll just have to take the other left last", Naruto says, sticking out his tongue to Sasuke.

"I don't even like ramen", Sasuke says under his breath.

"But you gotta eat something! And you haven't even tried ramen enough times to know if you like it or not."

"And what do you think is 'enough'…?"

"Your orders, mister."

Naruto turns on his stool to thank, but instead he howls 'you' whihle pointing at the man holding a tray full of ramen cups.

The man with a scarf hiding all his hair, the one they had met earlier looks at Naruto, licking his dry lips quickly. "Hello."

"I didn't know you worked here", Naruto says, a bit upset for not knowing everything there was going on in Ichiraku.

"I only started today", the man answers and puts the tray to the table. "Who will have the shrimp ramen?"

"Me", Kakashi says, raising his hand lazily to catch the man's attention.

"And misos?" the man asks as he serves Kakashi his bowl.

"Another's for me", Sakura says, blushing slightly as the man smiles to her.

"I'll take the another", Sai smiles his usual fake smile at the man.

The man looks at him for a moment before he smiles too, looking like a worn out Sai. "Don't fake your smile in front of me", he says softly. He places the last bowls in front of Naruto and Sasuke. "Chicken for the white boy. Switch if you wish." Then he disappears behind the curtain that separates the kitchen and the customers' area.

Sakura sighs dreamily. "He is so handsome. And saw right through Sai so he must be intelligent too."

"Seeing through me is a mark of intelligence?" Sai asks, still smiling. "I have to write that down."

"Weren't you swearing Sasuke's the only one for you just a few years back?" Naruto asks with his mouth full of ramen.

Sakura blushes furiously. "That was way back. Besides, he never even asked me out."

"Hear that, bastard", Naruto claps Sasuke's back. "You're losing your fangirls."

"Looks like I gotta start doing something to keep them…" Sasuke smirks.

"Woah, Hiroshi!" comes Ayako's shriek from behind the curtain. "You okay?"

"Yes…" they hear the man's mumbled answer. "Nothing's broke."

"Ok, that's good." Then Ayako steps out to team 7's view. ""Hi, Naruto. You want seconds?"

"Yes please."

"You're paying it yourself", Kakashi says.

"Hey, no fair. Why you paying for only one portion? I'm still hungry."

"I'm not made of money y'know."

"Well, I'm gonna take another portion anyways. Pork, please."

"I'd want another chicken too, please", Sasuke says, sounding a bit ashamed.

"Oo, you fell for ramen", Ayako laughs. "Way to go, Naruto. I thought he'd never give in."

"I'm just hungry…" Sasuke mutters, blushing only slightly.

"Hey, Ayako", Sakura catches the woman's attention as Naruto keeps on teasing Sasuke. "Do you know that man who works for you?"

"Oh, Hiroshi? Not well, he just started today… But he's real nice guy, though sometimes he seems to fall into his own private world…" Ayako turns to look at Sakura with a suspicious look. "Why do you want to know, anyway?"

"Uh, umh…" Sakura's face turns even redder than her hair.

"Oh, girl", Ayako pats Sakura's houlder. "Sorry to say this, but apparently he's longing for some girl already."

"I don't seem to be very lucky with boys, am I", Sakura sighs.

"You're surrounded by four good looking males", at this Ayako winks, "and you call yourself unlucky?"

"They might be good looking, but one's old pervert, one's mind is just a big penis, one's frigid and one's… uh, Naruto." Sakura grins as her teammates glance at her. Ayako smiles to her before she leaves to make the ramen.

"I'm a penis?" Sai asks, looking at Sakura with a surprised look. "What does that mean?"

"Well, it was just some joking…" Sakura starts, then changes her mind and holds another of her chopsticks in front of Sai. "What does this remind you of?"

Sai looks at the chopstick for a moment with his mouth open in the shape of 'o', then he smiles one of his real smiles, the 'I learned something new today' smile. "Penis."

A sudden, short laughter wakes Kakashi up from his 'she called me old' brooding, gets Sakura and Sai's attention and stops Naruto and Sasuke's thumb wrestle match. Just like earlier, it is the young man who had caught their attention, Hiroshi as Ayako had called him.

He is holding back his laughter, grinning widely, blushing only so slightly it gives a very slight tint of rose to his pale, thin cheecks. He has turned his head away from them and the cups of ramen he is holding, and the already setting sun shines upon him, making him glow. His expression looks so happy, every curve of him – his closed eyes, the tiny dimples that look unused - telling of relief and of utter peace, even if for only a short moment. Although Sakura met this man only a few hours earlier, she somehow knows this is something that rarely happens, this smiles, and she knows that whatever excuse he is going to say of why he laughed, it is lie, because there is something so much more to this. And if Sakura hadn't already fallen for him, this time she would have, no matter what.

Then the moment is gone and Hiroshi opens his eyes, looks at them all, and licks his lips quickly. "Sorry, you just were so funny I couldn't help laughing…" He places the orders infront of Sasuke and Naruto and leaves to the kitchen but gets pushed back.

"Oy, Hiroshi, introduce yourself to them", Ayako pops up, smiling at him.

Sakura looks at Hiroshi who is in such angle that she sees almost half of his face. And if she sees right, he looks… scared? And could that be anger behind that look?

Then a slight blush tints his cheeks and he looks around as if searching for a way to escape from this situation.

Ayako sighs and turns him around with force, showing his slightly panicked face to team 7. "Don't be so shy, they bite only if you pay them."

Ayako's sentence seems to calm him down, and his panicked look gets replaced with a slightly irritated one. "I'm not shy, I'm just… not social."

"Just like this bastard here", Naruto laughs and points at Sasuke brooding next to him. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, number one unpredictable ninja in Konoha. You're gonna see more of me for sure, I practically live in Ichiraku."

"I'm Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you", Sakura says, bowing her head slightly. Hiroshi smiles to her. "This is Sai, and that's Kakashi, our sensei."

"And the bastard?" Hiroshi asks, using the word easily.

"Uchiha Sasuke", Sasuke mutters, lifting his gaze to glare at the man. It seems like Sasuke wants to look right into Hiroshi's eyes, see right through him, but Hiroshi just locks his own gaze somewhere between Sakura and Sai. "And you are?"

"Shiroyama Hiroshi." Hiroshi is still smiling. "You'll be seeing me here for long unless I get fired for day dreaming."

"Never!" Ayako butts in. "I'm quite sure you'll attract girls, and that's more than good for business."

Hiroshi laughs shortly. That laugh alerts Kakashi and his ears perk up as he hears it. It is obviously fake. Kakashi can hear his real, panicked and still somehow eerily calm voice under the careful icing of laugh. It is as if he is forcing himself to continue this conversation with everyone although he would just want to leave for his own peace.

"They will just get disappointed…" Hiroshi smiles slightly as he turns to leave to the kitchen. He locks gazes with Kakashi as he turns, staring at his only visible eye. Kakashi answers with a look that asks 'Who are you?'. Hiroshi's eyes harden. Then the moment is over, and no one had noticed because it hadn't lasted even for a second.

"I'm gonna go now, guys", Kakahi says, standing up. "Here's for the dishes; my treat as I said. Bye!" With that he is gone, leaving behind only a small whirlwind of leaves.

Ayako counts the money he left at the table. "This is for seven dishes, Naruto", she looks at him. "He really is made of money, then?"

"He's gonna make us pay for it by training", Naruto groans. "And I only ate two dishes. How can he be so cruel?"

"He's not cruel, he just want's to keep us fit", Sakura says and stands up. "Anyways, I'm leaving too."

"Already?"

"I'll teach Sai some manners." Sai smiles at the sound of his name. "So we gotta leave for the library to find some books for him."

"Guess I could leave too…" Naruto and Sasuke stand up at the same time. "Bye then, Ayako. See ya next time."

"Bye."

* * *

Sasuke is sitting on a high stool at the small kitchen of Ichiraku, looking at Ayako who is making ramen ready for her 'best ever customer', Naruto. She has been telling 'Hiroshi' about Naruto practically everything she knows, starting from how he was orphanaged at such young age to the story of how he had dragged 'that Uchiha beauty' back to Konoha.

Sasuke had listened to it gladly. It had calmed him down as he was about to give up and yell everyone who he really is, because even if it is quite boring to hear a story twice, when it is about Naruto it would never cease to interest him. And Ayako gave the story a point of view that Sasuke could have never heard otherwise. She is a villager who – unlike many others – didn't loathe Naruto because of Kyuubi. Yet she wasn't like Iruka who knew about Naruto's life as a ninja and what kind of missions he had gone through. She was someone who knew only Naruto's civil side – besides the stories Naruto had told her, but they were always positive – so she gave Sasuke a fresh breeze of how Naruto can be so sunny although nowadays missions tend to get him quiet.

"Oy, Ayako, old man! Anyone there?"

Sasuke startles at the sudden yell, turning paler if it is even possible. He hugs his knees to the point of crushing, just to prevent himself from yelling back 'shut up, dead last', with a slightly annoyed voice.

"Shut up, moron."

Sasuke's breath gets caught up in his throat. He puts his head to his knees and hugs them even more forcefully until he feels like he can never walk again.

_He_ had said it, not him. Sasuke had nothing to worry about. No one had yet revealed him, not even looked at him twice… Not that anyone had even seen him yet. He had just been hiding in Ichiraku's kitchen, listgening to Ayako's stories and waited for something to happen. Now something had, but Sasuke doesn't know what to do now. Should he put his plan into action and just step in to their view, smiling softly, saying: 'Hi, I'm Hiroshi, new here…'

"Oy, Hiroshi", Ayako taps him as she comes back to the kitchen with Naruto and Sasuke's orders. "Make two misos and one shrimp."

Sasuke lifts his head and steps slowly down from his stool – it is actually a combination of a stool and ladder – hoping he doesn't look scared and shaky anymore. "Three portions? I thought there were only two…" He has no other possibility now than play Hiroshi until he would get caught or reveal himself.

"Their teammates are coming soon. And anyways, the blonde is Naruto, remember him?" _'How could I not?'_ "He always orders at least two portions, no matter what. Never seen him eat just one."

'_I have.'_ Sasuke smiles as Ayako changes the topic to her fiancé. Ayako's father was working all alone that evening when Sasuke and Naruto had come to Ichiraku after a late training. They had practicesd only taijutsu that evening and they were hungry and sweaty and tired that evening. They had been walking past Ichiraku to their homes when Naruto's stomach had grumbled loudly.

'Man, I've got no money with me…' Naruto had said, touching his stomach as if to tell it to keep quiet. 'I hope I've got some food left at home…'

Sasuke had looked at Naruto, then he had grabbed his hand and dragged him to Ichiraku, ignoring his loud questions.

Then Sasuke had ordered a bowl of miso ramen, and as it came, he had shoved it in front of Naruto and had said; 'eat'.

Naruto had looked at the ramen, then had looked at Sasuke, clearly wanting the ramen, but he hadn't even touched it, instead he had said: '"Sasu – '

"It's a small payback for everything you've done for me, okay? Shut up and eat.' And Naruto had smiled brightly to him.

"Hiroshi, you're serving them alright", Ayako calls from where ever she is making her part of the orders. "Hiroshi, you hear me?"

"Yes", Sasuke answers. "And I'm almost done soon."

"Me too. Could you get five bowls, they are on the shelf on your right…"

Sasuke opens the cupboarde on his right side, taking out five bowls, all the while keeping on eye on the boiling noodles.

Ayako pours the hot noodles to their own cups as Sasuke is trying to find a tray where he could fit the bowls.

"Check the lower cupboard if you're looking for a tray", Ayako advices him.

Sasuke kneels and opens the door, seeing a pile of trays right there wating for him. "Found them."

As Sasuke stands up and turns around to put the bowls to the tray, asking Ayako what is what shile doing so, he smiles. He could get used to this.

"But you gotta eat something!" Naruto's yell is heard behind the curtain. Sasuke gives a quick glance there just like Ayako as Naruto keeps on talking.

'_If they didn't recognize me earlier, they won't recognize me now.'_ Sasuke takes the tray, a cool expression on his face. He feels nothing like that inside, though. _'And I don't even look like him anymore… more like Sai and Itachi, just like Sakura said…'_ He leaves the kitchen just in time to hear _him_ say: " – think is enough?"

"Your orders, mister", Sasuke says with flawlessly normal tone, except that it sounds too normal to be real.

Naruto turns to look at him, and his eyes widen. "You!" he yells and his yell echoes in Sasuke''s ears for a long time and he almost thinks Naruto had recognized him. But no, he hadn't, because then he wouldn't have yelled 'you' but rather stared at him in disbelief. _'Looks like love doesn't conquire all'_, Sasuke thinks rather exhaustedly and licks his dry lips. _'Especially when it's onesided…'_ "Hello."

"I didn't know you worked here", Naruto says, and his clear blue eyes and smooth voice tell Sasuke that he is upset of this.

Sasuke rips his eyes away from Naruto and puts the tray to the table to prevent it from falling off of his shaking hands. He had done this all only to find out if Naruto had ever even thought of him in more than friendly way, but his start doesn't look so good. He had only made Naruto upset and made his own calmness shatter. "I only started today", Sasuke says, hoping that would make Naruto's smile come back quickly. And from the corner of his eyes he sees it did. "Who will have shrimp ramen?" _'I bet it's either Sai or Kakashi.'_

Kakashi raises his hand in his all too lazy and familiar way. "Me."

Sasuke gives him his bowl, moving quickly onto the bowls of misos to not look at him. Sakura blushes as Sasuke gives her her serving. _'Her inner fangirlness has caught me'_, Sauke laughs in his mind and looks at Sai before serving him. "Don't fake your smile in front of me." Then he gives the last bowls to Naruto and _him_. _'Chicken for… _him_.'_ "Chicken for the white boy." He looks at Naruto's ear to keep his eyes from looking at him. "Switch if you wish."

Then he turns quickly around, hoping he didn't leave too quickly, and disappaers to the kitchen. As soon as he is there, he lets his head bow, and tries to clear his mind from all tha had happened, that was really nothing much. He had only served them ramen. That was nothing extraordinary, right? There is nothing suspicious doing a waiter's job.

" – so handsome", Sasuke's ears pick up Sakura's quiet words. He smiles. History nevers changes, does it?

"Hiroshi, could you put them clean dishes to their cupborads", Ayako asks. She had come back from Naruto and the others, moving surprisingly quietly. "Bowls and glasses are on the high shelves, almost everything else under them."

"Roger." Work would take his mind off of… anything. He could concentrate on every glass and every bowl as an individual, hold them carefully as he placed them to the right shelves, and then start again…

"Hiroshi, you have a family name?" Ayako suddenly asks, almost making Sasuke drop the bowls he was holding.

"Shiroyama. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Hear that bastard! You're losing your fangirls." Naruto's voice carries to Sasuke's ears. He tries to pretend it is a new voice to him.

"Looks like I gotta start doing something to keep them…"

The three bowls Sasuke was holding fall from his grip as all power runs away from his hands. His brains feel like they have frozen in the middle of doing something.

Nevertheless, his instincts don't care about what his brains feel like, and like in the middle of a dream, he kneels to the ground and put his hands out for the falling bowls, using chakra in some way to attach them to his hands.

"Woah, Hiroshi! You okay?" he hears Ayako's voice, a bit panicked maybe. Sasuke doesn't know and he doesn't care. He is still in a state of shock when he puts the bowls carefully to the ground.

"Yes. Nothing is broke", he answers, staring at the clean dishes in front of him.

"Ok, that's good", Ayako says, looking at Sasuke's back in a thoughtful way, but Sasuke doesn't see it. Of course not, because no matter how much of a ninja he is, even with the Sharingan, he does not have even a single eye on his back. And Ayako leaves, giving him a long glance, and like earlier, Sasuke doesn't know she did so and even if he did he would not care.

What had _he_ said? _Looks like I gotta start doing something to keep them…_ Keep his fangirls. Why had _he_ said that? Sasuke would have never said things like that. Fangirls were a taboo to him, he had learned to talk about them in quite the normal way only a year back. Why had _he_ said that? Sasuke was not the one to be joking at that age. _He_ shouldn't have said that.

But maybe Sasuke is wrong again. He hadn't been able to understand _his_ gaze before, so why should he be able to predict how _he_ acts.

Except that he should. He has already gone through the acts and happening and feelings that only lie ahead of _him_. Sasuke should know in what way his thoughts move. He couldn't have forgotten it all, could he?

Sasuke turns his head slightly to hear _his_ voice. He can't make out the words, but _he_ sounds embarrassed.

Sasuke is still kneeling on the floor, staring at the bowls he had saved from utter demolition. He takes the bowls to his hold and stands up, continuing what he had been doing earlier.

'_Why am I even worked up over what _he_ said?'_ Because he should know what _he_ thinks, because they are the same person. _'Or are we? Maybe our paths divided the moment I ended up here, and all the time _he_ is drifting away from me…'_ That thought scares Sasuke. That by somehow ending up in the past he would be changing himself so much they couldn't even be called the same person anymore.

That brings Sasuke to the questions that have been lurking in his mind ever since the realized just what the hell is going on. Why is he here? How did he end up here? How can he get back?

'_Right now it would be wisest to think this is all just a dream made up by my feverish brain. To keep me sane. But to keep my cover and everyone else sane I should think of this as a mission.'_

"Hiroshi, one chicken and one pork."

"Roger."

Sasuke takes out two bowls and waits as the ramen gets ready, which takes only a short moment. To Sasuke's unhappiness, because he really doesn't feel like seeing _him_ or any of those others now. But a job is a job, and he really doesn't want to raise any more of Ayako's curiosity by refusing to serve them. Who did order these anyway? Naruto of course, but could the other -

"They're for Naruto and that grumpy pretty boy", Ayako says offhandly as Sasuke takes the bowls. Seriously, can she read minds?

Sasuke steps out behind the curtain and stops right there to look at the view infront of him. There is Kakashi, leaning against the table, apparently brooding over something. Sakura and Sai are sitting next to him, Sakura holding a chopstick infront of a surprised Sai. And Naruto and _him_ are having a moment of thumb wrestling.

"Penis", Sai says happily and smiles.

And Sasuke can only laugh. It is short, but is comes from the bottom of his heart and turns him mouth into a wide smile that is definitely a rare event and it relieves his heart.

They had acted just like they should. No talking of fangirls that should still be a taboo, no glaring at him with messages that were left understood.

But somehow Sasuke knows it is not going to continue like this, that this was only a moment that happens once in a thousand years if even then. And he knows that he had ruined it by coming, by laughing, and that when he is going to open his eyes and let his grin fade away and replace it with a fake smile that is on Hiroshi's face almost constantly, then he would see something that he definitely wouldn't like.

And he opens his eyes and licks his dry lips quickly to make them move, to form a small smile to bounce all suspects away. He lets his gaze sweep them all, or atleast look like it, because really his eyes had only registered Sakura and _his_ faces.

Sakura had a small blush on her face and a look that Sasuke knew all too well. It was the look she had been giving to Sasuke ever since she had first seen him.

And _his_ face looked too much the same.


	4. Shiroyama Hiroshi

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N:** Nakatsu is a family name, and Sasuke was talking about Naruto in a way that doesn't tell the sex, so Ayako just assumed Nakatsu is a woman.

* * *

**Third chapter – Shiroyama Hiroshi  
**

"Sorry… you just were so funny I couldn't help laughing…" Sasuke tries to keep his eyes at the bowls as he serves them. He really tries to not look scared. He doesn't want to give _him_ the satisfaction that _he_ would notice Sasuke is scared. Not that he is.

Sasuke bows shortly, keeping his eyes on Naruto. Then he turns and goes to the kitchen, but he can take only a few steps before he sees Ayako infront of him and feels a careful but strong push.

And automatically Sasuke stops the push and is ready to send it against the one who touched him. But as quickly as he reacted to Ayako's push, he realizes he should just have let her do it and not let his ninja instincts take control. So he pretends as if nothing happened and takes a step backwards as if he was close to losing his balance.

A quick, suspicious look crosses Ayako's face and gets soon replaced by a smile. "Oy, Hiroshi, introduce yourself to them."

Sasuke looks at Ayako's smiling face and a strange shake goes through him. Ayako had clearly noticed the short moment when Sasuke had forgotten he should be only a civil.

What should he do? He is completely confused now. Had his team seen his weak moment? Had they seen the moment between him and Ayako?

But Ayako only sighs, still smiling, and turns him forcefully around. Sasuke feels panic taking over him as he accidentally locks gazes with _him_. But quickly he turns his eyes away, trying to look as if he is nothing but shy.

"Don't be so shy, they bite only if you pay them", Ayako says, her timing being again so perfect it is scary.

"I'm not shy, I'm just…" Sasuke feels irritated as he feels everyone's gaze at him. He really does not like to be the centre of attention, at least not like he is now. "…not social…"

Naruto laughs. "Just like this bastard here", he says and points at _him_. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, number one unpredictable ninja in Konoha." As if Sasuke hadn't heard that many times before. "You're gonna see more of me for sure, I practically live in Ichiraku."

_'I'd love that…'_

"I'm Haruno Sakura", Sakura says and bows her head, "nice to meet you. This is Sai, and that's Kakashi, our sensei."

Sasuke smiles slightly as he quickly gazes at Sai and Kakashi. He doesn't want to look at them for a long time, because they might realize how much he looks like _him_.

_'Or like Sai…'_ Sasuke adds as he sees how Kakashi quickly looks at Sai, then at him. "And the bastard?" he asks, immediately regretting his use of the word 'bastard', because Hiroshi is not someone who would use such word, but he smirks softly right after, hoping no one would see his inner conflict.

"Uchiha Sasuke", _he_ says quietly and looks at Sasuke, trying to catch his eyes to stare deep into them, to see what is going on. But Sasuke doesn't let _him_, because the moment _he_ would see his eyes, deep into them, _he _would realize everything. So Sasuke just smiles and looks at the space inbetween Sakura and Sai.

"And you are?" _he_ finally asks, giving up on _his_ stare.

"Shiroyama Hiroshi." Sasuke keeps his smile on and turns to look at Sakura, comforting himself at the view of the familiar blush. "You'll be seeing me here for long unless I get fired for day dreaming."

"Never!" Ayako laughs and places Naruto and _his_ orders infront of them. Sasuke follows her hands and sees Naruto's fingers wrap around the bowl. Suddenly Sasuke feels guilty as he sees Naruto's right hand. His hand is already in pain, but a few years later it would get even worse, so bad he couldn't use it much daily. And all because Naruto had to drag Sasuke back to Konoha…

"I'm quite sure you'll attract girls and that's more than good for business."

Sasuke laughs shortly. Really he would just like to sit next to Naruto and feel his presence and pretend everything is alright again, but he can't. He is Hiroshi now and Hiroshi would laugh slightly to Ayako's remark, so that is what he does. But then he notices _him_ and stops his laugh by starting to smile. _His_ look is unreadable.

"They will just get disappointed…" Sasuke says quietly and quickly looks straight into _his_ eyes. _He_ doesn't react in any way.

But as Sasuke turns to return to the kitchen, he sees Kakashi's look. _'He suspects me'_, Sasuke notices. _'And he is not going to give up until he gets a good explanation…'_ But what had given Sasuke up? Kakashi clearly hadn't realized how much Sasuke looks like _him_. So what had he seen?

"I'm gonna go now, guys", Sasuke hears Kakashi's voice. "Here's for the dishes; my treat as I said. Bye!"

Sasuke sits to his new favourite stool and listens to the voices behind the curtain. He hopes Naruto would live up to his reputation and talk some more before he would leave, because Sasuke needs his voice to calm himself down. _'He is my drug…'_ Sasuke smiles to himself and closes his eyes and lets his head rest on his knees.

"He's gonna make us pay for it by training", Sasuke hears Naruto's complainment. That was true, Kakashi always doubled their training if he had earlier showed them some kindness. Sasuke notices he almost misses training already. He had always been one to like to train; alone or together with someone, usually Naruto, but always until he had exhausted himself almost completely. He had never learned to stop early; he had always just continued and continued until he had had to lay down and rest. And Naruto was exactly the same… So when they had been training together at evenings, they had not realized the time at all and had fought until late at nigh. Then they had usually layn down to the ground, stared at the dark sky full of stars and had talked…

"See ya next time."

_'Please come soon… Naruto...'_

"Hiroshi, you okay?" Ayako steps infront of Sasuke and bows her head slightly to see Sasuke's face buried into his arms.

"Yes…" Sasuke answers and lifts his head. He doesn't feel okay, not at all. He feels not and cold at the same time because of the fever, and his mind is puzzled because of all this, of Kakashi's silent message and _his_ strange look. And somehow, the only thing he can think of now is Naruto, Naruto, Naruto…

"You don't look ok", Ayako says and touches Sasuke's forehead. Sasuke was close to hitting her hand away – it came too close to his personal space – but he managed to remain calm. "You're so hot! I think you should go home and sleep your fever away."

'_Home where? To _his_ place?'_ "No, I'm okay…" Sasuke says and steps down from his stool to prove his words. But somehow the movement was too quick to his head and so he staggers slightly .

"You are not okay!" Ayako says and grabs Sasuke's arm to prevent his fall. "I am not gonna let you work anymore today, and if you resist, you're gonna get fired."

Sasuke doesn't know should he laugh or not. He should, but Hiroshi shouldn't, so he doesn't. "Ok… I don't want to lose this job…" Sasuke touches his forehead and rubs his temples. He feels a headache on its way.

"Do you want this day's paycheck?"

That question startles Sasuke. He had completely forgotten he would get paid for this. For stalking Naruto.

"Ok…"

"Here you go", Ayako smiles, giving Sasuke his share of the day. Sasuke doesn't even count the coins; he just puts them quickly to his pocket. "By the way, are you planning on staying with me for long?

"I don't know", Sasuke says and doesn't look at Ayako. He is scared of Ayako because he has slipped too many times in her presence. "I might be gone any day."

"Gone? What do you mean?"

"I might leave without word any day…" Sasuke says and hopes Ayako would not ask more questions. But of course she would, no options allowed.

"Why?"

"Nakatsu isn't here", Sasuke says, almost saying 'Naruto' instead of 'Nakatsu', but quicly changing the name. And even if this Naruto is here and Sasuke feels attached to him, he is not Sasuke's Naruto, not the one who had shared so many memories with him, more than this Naruto and _he_ have. And Sasuke knows he has to start thinking of a way to get back, because this second life as Hiroshi without Namie and Nakatsu is killing him.

Sasuke lifts his head to look at Ayako's questioning eyes, and suddenly she lets out a sound that tells she has understood. A blush covers her cheeks.

"Is her name Nakatsu?" Ayako asks, suddenly Sasuke's illness completely forgotten.

Sasuke looks at her for a few seconds before smiling softly. "His name. Nakatsu is male."

Then Ayako blushes even more and lets out other sound that tells she has understood again. And Sasuke too blushes under her curious eyes and turns his head away. He puts his hand in the pocket and feels the coins. They feel strangely warm.

"I'll leave then. I have to get some medicine…"

"It'd be wise. You don't have to come to work tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow be here as I open if you just can. It'll be your first proper day."

"I'll try to make it", Sasuke says and wishes goodbye to Ayako. Then he turns away from Ichiraku to a street that leads to the neighbourhood where Naruto lives.

'_I definitely need the medicine…'_ Sasuke admits as he feels his condition not getting any better. So therefore he turns to his right to a street that he knows would lead to the pharmcay shop that Naruto uses. The owner is not like most of the villagers; he is one of the few who treat Naruto like he is just anyone.

"Good evening, how may I help you?" greets the old man Sasuke as he steps into the shop. Then he turns before Sasuke can even open his mouth and howls: "Don't even bother to answer!" He comes up to Sasuke behind his counter and takes a closer look at him. "You've let yourself bad, my boy…" he mumbles to himself. "How long have you been like this?"

"A few days", answers Sasuke and tries to turn his face away from the man. Partly because he feels uneasy so close to him, and partly because this man never forgets a face and wouldn't even let Sasuke's ill face fool him like others had.

But if this man would realize who Sasuke is, he could always pretend to be _him_…

"Just a moment, my boy", the man says and disappears behind his counter.

Sasuke is left standing on the middle of the floor, thinking. Had this man ever even seen Sasuke? Maybe only when Sasuke was a child, before everything…

"Here you go." The man has come back and puts a bottle into Sasuke's hand. "This is the best medicine for you I could find."

Sasuke looks at the small, dark green bottle in his hand. "I… don't know if I can afford this…" _'At least if I don't want to steal my food today…'_

"Rubbish!" the man says and tidies up the shelves. "I can't let you suffer because you don't have any money; just give me what you think is suitable and it'll be enough."

Sasuke only stares at this generous man. How could he be this nice to a total stranger? Sasuke wouldn't have been, so he doesn't undrstand him.

"Here."

Sasuke grabs the coins in his pocket and gets almost all of them in one go. "I hope this won't make me a laughing stock in your eyes."

"Not at all, my boy", he answeres. "I just hope you'll get better soon."

"Yes, me too…" Sasuke bows deeply. "Thank you very much."

"Not a problem at all, my boy."

Then Sasuke suddenly remembers something that he hopes is just overreacting. He remembers the one hot summer day when they had had a day off. Back then Sasuke hadn't really payed attention to what Naruto and Sakura had said, but now it suddenly comes to his mind. Of sympathy to that man? Maybe. But Sasuke really hopes he isn't the 'nice old man' from the store near Naruto's place who had passed away only a year after this day.

Sasuke turns to look at the man, his black eyes emotionless. "I'm sorry", he says quietly, not knowing why, and turns and walks far away from the pharmacy store. His grip on the green bottle almost breaks it.

* * *

Kakashi stares at the dark red fabric covering Hiroshi's head as the young man steps out of the pharmacy store. This far he hadn't done anything particularly suspicious, but Kakashi wouldn't let it all pass after he has stalked him for only such a short time. There is something strange and even scary about Hiroshi that Kakashi wants to find out. He only hasn't yet done anything else than left early from Ichiraku and went straight to a pharmacy store. That is not suspicious at all, is it?

But the way he reacted when Sakura woke him up is what first rose Kakashi's suspicions. Even though Hiroshi was sleeping like dead, he was still able to kick Sakura away and send a kunai at Naruto that quickly, though slightly clumsily. An easy thing for a ninja, but impossible for a civil.

So which one is Hiroshi? He looks more like a ninja with the cape on him, and who knows what kind of weapons he might be hiding under it. But why would he be working in Ichiraku? Doesn't he have a team to go to missions with? And where is his headband?

Hiroshi has stopped a short way from the pharmacy store and stares at the bottle on his hand.

Kakashi takes a good look at him from his hide-out. He looks at the sterling looking fabric on his head and the few short black locks that escape from under it, his white neck that disappears under his black collar and his hands that are covered with long gloves. His trousers are the usual style – slightly over knee – and his shoes are a pair of black sandals slightly over his ankle.

Hiroshi's clothing is the most common style that both ninjas and civils use. Everyone knows clothes only can't give away one's profession, but somehow, because it is Hiroshi, Kakashi can't just accept that his outfit that is purposely covering so much would have no deeper meaning. That he only has the cape or the gloves on because he thinks they look cool. He doesn't seem like that kind of person.

Suddenly Hiroshi looks around him and Kakashi swears in his mind. Had Hiroshi noticed him? He couldn't have. Kakashi had hid himself so well it would be hard for even a pro to notice him.

But the young man just takes a leap and disappears into the woods.

_'I can't let him disappear!'_ Kakashi alerts and follows Hiroshi, carefully hiding his chakra to not give himself away. Kakashi wants to know where the man is heading. What is he doing in the forest in the first place? Why hadn't he just headed straight home?

_'He must be a ninja'_, Kakashi frowns as he follows Hiroshi, only barely seeing his back to keep himself from being noticed. The way he jumps from branch to branch with incredible speed is something no civil could do._'He is getting more interesting every second'_, Kakashi smirks and stops a good way from where Hiroshi had stopped and keeps his eyes fixed on him. _'But it is a shame he isn't doing anything to reveal something about himself – '_ Kakashi's thoughts stop as he jumps away from a bunch of kunais and a few shurinken aimed at him.

"Who's there?" Hiroshi voices out angrily, not even bothering to turn around to look at the intruder. He has already sat down and is leaning against a tree, opening the green bottle he got from the pharmacy store.

"When did you realize I was following you?" Kakashi answers with a question of his own. "With that speed you could've dropped me a long time ago."

"Maybe", Hiroshi answers and glares at Kakashi with a look of pure hatred that almost scares him. How could someone whom he had just met hate him so? "But I didn't notice you until a moment ago. A shame; if you didn't do that one mistake you could have spied on me for who knows how long and I wouldn't have noticed anything…" Hiroshi takes a gulp of his medicine and looks at Kakashi. This time his eyes hold no emotion. "Why exactly did you follow me?"

"I wanted to know about you. Why else?" Kakashi grins.

"And I hoped it would be only because you're a prevert…" Hiroshi mutters, a hint of humour in his voice.

Kakashi takes a step forward but gets immediately stopped by a katana on his neck.

"Please don't move", Hiroshi whispers with his rough voice.

_'Incredible… I didn't see him move at all, and I'm a jounin.'_ "I wasn't going to attack you."

"When it's you I'll never know."

As quickly as Hiroshi had attacked the roles chage. Now Kakashi is holding a kunai at Hiroshi's neck.

"You sound as if you know me."

"Who wouldn't know you, copy nin Kakashi."

Kakashi tightens his grip and the blade touches Hiroshi's skin, drawing out two droplets of blood. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"My name is Shiroyama Hiroshi; surely you know that."

The blade gets even closer to Hiroshi's neck, now making a cut that will leave a white scar for a few days.

"I don't have any bad ambitions considering you", the young man says and then disappears from Kakashi's hold, leaving behind only a log.

_'Kawarimi no jutsu! Damn it, I was so sure I had caught him that I forgot to watch out…'_

"I don't even know myself why I am here, but I know I am staying here because of love and nothing else." Hiroshi steps out infront of Kakashi and just stands there, looking deep into the forest. Somehow his pose reminds Kakashi of Naruto. "Please leave and let me rest."

"Don't you have a place to go to?" Kakashi asks, now realizing why Hiroshi had come to the forest.

The young man gives Kakashi a quick glance. "No, not here."

Kakashi just stares at him. Then he turns around without a word and leaves. No, he hadn't given up, he was only going to leave it as it is for today, because he was not going to accomplish anything by questioning him. Hiroshi was going to keep quiet no matter what.


	5. Betrayal

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**

* * *

Fourth chapter -Betrayal  
**

"Who's there?" Sasuke says angrily as he has sent the kunais and shurinkens at the one examining him. He already has a guess who it might be. Because that man doesn't give up until he has found out the truth.

Sasuke sits down under a tree and slowly opens the green bottle he got from the old man. _'Why did he have to follow me?'_

"When did you realize I was following you? With that speed you could have dropped me a long time ago."

"Maybe…" Sasuke glares at Kakashi with a look that tells everything about how he feels about this. _'Don't give me that sweet talk.'_ "…but I didn't notice you until a moment ago." Sasuke smirks. "A shame; if you didn't do that one mistake you could have spied on me for who knows how long and I wouldn't have noticed anything…" Sasuke holds up the bottle and takes a small gulp. It tastes bitter sweet. "Why exactly did you follow me?" Had Kakashi realized how familiar Hiroshi looks, or was he just curious about this new stranger?

"I wanted to know about you." A wide grin is on Kakashi's face. "Why else?"

"And I hoped it would be only because you're a pervert…" Despite the cold athmosphere between him and Kakashi, Sasuke feels like laughing. But immediately as Kakashi moves, taking a small step forward, Sasuke stops him with his trusted katana on his neck. Sasuke doesn't want to fight Kakashi here – or anyone else for that matter – so he holds the blade only so close that Kakashi wouldn't dare to move but not too close to even cut his mask. "Please don't move."

"I wasn't going to attack you", Kakashi says matter-of-factly.

"When it's you, I'll never know."

Sasuke feels Kakashi twitch, then suddenly he is the one holding a blade on Sasuke's neck.

"You sound as if you know me." The earlier playfulness has disappeared from Kakashi's voice.

"Who wouldn't know you, copy nin Kakashi." The answer doesn't satisfy Kakashi at all and he tightens his grip. But what else Sasuke could have answered?

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"My name is Shiroyama Hiroshi. Surely you know that."

Now Sasuke feels as the blade cuts a small wound on his neck. _'Time to leave…'_

"I don't have any bad ambition considering you", Sasuke says and quickly makes the signs for the replacement technique while Kakashi is blinded by frustration. "I don't even know myself why I am here, but I know I am staying here because of love and nothing else." _'Because of Naruto and nothing else…'_ Sasuke looks off to the distance, not seeins anything. He only thinks of Naruto and no one else.

He tries. He really tries, but the strange look _he_ had given seems to come up every time he wants to recall Naruto's smiling face.

_'_He_ takes away everything dear to me…'_ "Please leave and let me rest."

"Don't you have a place to go to?"

Kakashi's soft, almost concerned voice surprises Sasuke. "No. Not here."

Kakashi looks at Sasuke for a long time, silently and with no emotions seen on his face. Is he wondering what kind of life does Hiroshi live, the supposed ninja with no home who is staying in Konoha only because of love?

Sasuke doesn't care. He just wants to sleep. He doesn't have anywhere to go so he is just going to put up a simple camp under the trees where he is currently standing. He doesn't even care not that Kakashi knows where he is. He just wants to sleep.

Then Kakashi turns and leaves with determined steps.

Sasuke watches his disappearing neck and falls to the ground with a slight thud.

How is he going to survive here if only on the first day had happened so much. What if his visit here would last for a week? Or a month? Could he survive?

'_Probably not'_, Sasuke has to admit as he closes his eyes and leans against the rootstock, taking a comfortable posture. _'I am already on my limits...'_ And this far his best disguise has been his sickness and a constant smile. But what when he no longer looks dead and doesn't have the energy to smile all the time like Naruto and Sai do? What when they realize he resembles _him_ too much? How would people react if they noticed the only difference between _him_ and Sasuke is age?

_'Kill me?'_

Maybe it would be the best for everyone. But Sasuke doesn't want to think about it now.

He puts the hood to his head and takes the most comfortable sleeping posture he can and curls into a ball as small as he can. He hopes sleep would come soon and give him at least a short escape from this all.

* * *

"Though I do like training, why now? Why right before we leave for a mission?" Naruto groans.

"Don't complain", Sakura says, more out of a habit than respect for Kakashi's choice. "This is only for our own good."

"Yeah right", Naruto rolls his eyes. "And why do we even have to come this far to train? Couldn't some of the usual places do?"

"Change once in a while keeps you alert", Kakashi chirps.

"Well, whatever the great copy-nin says…" Naruto mutters, a slightly mocking tone in his voice.

Kakashi is just about to give Naruto a remark of 'five laps around the village in your top speed' when Sasuke stops him.

"He's here." He sounds almost angered.

"Who?" Sakura asks, then she too sees the bundle of black wrapped into a ball under a great tree."Hiroshi?" she and Naruto voice out at the same time.

"It can't be him, can it?" Naruto asks, looking at Sasuke as if asking for advice.

Sasuke flinches slightly as if the look Naruto had given him could kill. "He seems to like sleeping in the woods…"

"Do you think he has a home?" Sakura asks quietly, freezing Naruto to the spot. Sasuke only turns his eyes away, and Sai and Kakashi look like they did not hear her at all.

"Should we wake him up?" Naruto asks.

"His sickness will get worse if he continues sleeping like that", Sakura worries.

"Fine", Kakashi says. "But try not to get killed."

Silently Sasuke walks closer to Hiroshi and bents over. With his eyes closed and a soft, almost caring look on his face he whispers something in Hiroshi's ear.

But immediately the moment of peace and care is over as Hiroshi opens his eyes and jumps up. Before any of the four of Team 7 can blink their eyes, Hiroshi has a katana on his hand and is holding it at Sasuke's neck. He hasn't taken the usual stance where the enemy is being held aagains oneself, instead he is facing Sasuke, holding his katana too close to Sasuke's neck.

The short moment when Hiroshi pulled his katana out from it's scabbard was enough. When his cape flashed aside for a second, Team 7 was able to see Hiroshi's lower body that had earlier always been carefully hidden. And they didn't like what they saw, the weapons holster attached to his thigh, the katana scabbard and the belt with two pouches full of weapons on each side.

Somehow they feel like he has betrayed them.

Sasuke's face is emotionless, and so is Hiroshi's, and as Kakashi now looks at the two of them, he thinks they look too much the same.

"Oy, Hiroshi!" Naruto yelps to wake the young man up from his dream like state. He is not used to see the somehow very sorrowful Hiroshi like that, and he wants to end it as soon as possible. "Cut it out! We only wanted to wake you up."

Hiroshi blinks his black eyes once, then slowly retreats the katana away from Sasuke's neck with fragmentary moves, as if his muscles are too tense to work properly.

"I'm sorry", he says just like the first time they met. "Are you okay?" The words seem to fall out of his mouth with much work.

"Yes", Sasuke says quietly.

Slowly Hiroshi puts his katana back to its scabbard. His eyes are still fixed on Sasuke, and they burn with an owerflowing emotion that no one really seems to understand.

"Your sickness will get worse if you sleep like that", Sakura says with slightly colder voice than what she meant to use.

Hiroshi startles. "I'm sorry. Are you going to train here? I'll leave to not disturb you. I must already be late for work…" Words drop out of his mouth, but they don't sound like him at all. The difference between his burning eyes that are still on Sasuke and his toneless, clinical way of speech are just strange

"Feel free to stay", Kakashi says offhandly. "As I happen to know you don't have to go to work today…"

Everybody gives him a suspicious look at the word 'happen', but Kakashi just grins to them.

"Yeah, just stay if you want", Naruto says, looking at Hiroshi, smiling at him, but his smile isn't as wide as it usually is. "We're just gonna train a bit, have early lunch and leave for a mission."

"Oh… okay…" Hiroshi says slowly and the fire in his eyes dies. He takes a few careful steps and walks past Sasuke to the other side of the small clearing.

As Hiroshi walks slowly past Sasuke, Sasuke turns his head slightly to see Hiroshi's hooded face.

_'What is their relationship?'_ Kakashi frowns as Sasuke has a soft look and a slight smile on his face. _'Who is he to Sasuke?'_

"Oy, dobe", Sasuke says and turns to glare at Naruto. "Are you coming or not?"

"Are you that eager to get beaten up by me", Naruto answers, grinning, and leaps to face Sasuke.

"Remember guys, only taijutsu this time", Kakashi says and turns the page of his worn out 'Icha Icha tactics'. "And don't take it too far."

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto mutters and take a common starting stance. "Bring it on, bastard."


	6. Sasuke

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N:** Thank you for all the reviews I've got. It's nice to see people still like this story though it is slightly strange and hard to follow sometimes. I'm trying my best to make this a better and easier to get all the time without losing the mood.

Hope you like this chapter!

* * *

**Fifth chapter – Sasuke...  
**

"Sasuke… Wake up."

The soft, dark voice whispering in Sasuke's ear alerts all his senses. They tell him to open his eyes, stand up and attack the stranger who had said his name with such tone. And he does so, holding his katana at the stranger's neck, facing him. He didn't want to hold the katana at the stranger's neck from behind while having his arms locked behind his back. No, he wanted to see his face because his voice had been so soft and caring when he had spoken Sasuke's name.

To tell the truth, he hopes it is Naruto and that this whole nightmare has ended.

But there is _him_, looking at Sasuke with seemingly emotionless face, but in _his_ eyes Sasuke seems something more. 'Care' he would want to call it.

"Oy, Hiroshi!" comes the surprisingly quiet voice of Naruto and it shakes Sasuke. He sounds different, almost hysterical, if it's even possible. _'But everything's possible after I came here...'_ "Cut it out! We only wanted to wake you up."

Sasuke tries to tear his eyes away from _him_, but soon he realizes it is an almost impossible task until he blinks his eyes and everything seem a bit easier. Slowly, slowly, stopping for less than a second all the time he pulls his katana holding hand back. "I'm sorry." Sasuke looks at _him_, communicating with _him_ through his eyes. "Are you okay?" This time he really means it, he really is sorry he fell asleep and made this mess. Only that the words seem like they don't want to co-operate with him.

"Yes", _he_ answers and sounds as if _he_ wants to say so much more but holds _his_ cool in front of the others.

"Your sickness will get worse I you sleep like that", Sakura's voice comes. It is the final thing that turns Sasuke's attention away from _him_.

Her voice was colder than ever.

"I'm sorry", he says again, this time only letting random words fall out of his mouth. _'Please don't use that voice, Sakura. Aren't we friends?'_ "Are you going to train here? I'll leave to not disturb you. I must already be late for work…" His eyes are still on _him_, because he is afraid to look at Sakura's eyes. Funny how things had turned out so that now _he_ is the only one Sasuke can look at. But now _his_ eyes look only soft and caring, maybe the same way as they look when they are focused on Naruto…

"Feel free to stay", Kakashi says with his irritatingly casual voice. "…as I happen to know you don't have to go to work today."

'_As you 'happened' to hear me and Ayako discuss about me yesterday…'_ Sasuke thinks, but not a muscle moves on his face.

"Yeah", Naruto's voice wakes Sasuke up and from the corners of his eyes he looks at him. "Just stay if you want." Naruto's grin is slightly forced, Sasuke realizes, and suddenly he feels empty inside. "We're just gonna train a bit, have early lunch and leave for a mission."

"Oh…" Sasuke breaths out just to say something. He can't stand the silence anymore. "Ok…" He tries to move his legs and quickly notices they have taken their own course towards where Kakashi is. He passes _him_, maybe too close because Kakashi's earlier just plain look turns slightly harder. Sasuke tries not to care, which should be very easy for him, since he has been practising that for almost half of his life now. But _he_ is once again the one that gets Sasuke off balance, because _he_ smiles at him, that very small, almost invisible smile of _his_.

"Oy, dobe", _he_ then says and turns _his_ smile into a friendly glare before _he_ turns to look at Naruto. "Are you coming or not?"

"Are you that eager to get beaten up by me?" Naruto says, and this time the wide grin on his face is genuine.

Sasuke's heart passes a beat. Is this what _he_ meant with that look. _Don't worry, I'll bring back his smile._

"Remember guys, only taijutsu this time. And don't take it too far", Kakashi reminds them, turning the page of his old Icha Icha tactics, but his eyes are constantly on Sasuke.

"Yeah, yeah", Naruto says, eager to start. "Bring it on bastard."

Sasuke sits to the ground just as Naruto and _he_ start their friendly taijutsu battle. He smiles at their pure happiness as they try to land kicks and hits on each other.

'He_ brought Naruto's smile back for me'_, Sasuke smiles and hugs his knees. _'Just for me…'_ But no matter how he tries, the small ball of fear is still there within him.

"Hiroshi", Kakashi's annoying, happy voice interrupts Sasuke's peace.

"What do you want?" Sasuke growls and gives him a glare.

Sakura startles at this look.

"Don't glare at me now, Hiroshi-kun", Kakashi chirps.

Sasuke turns his eyes away, not because of what Kakashi said, but because of the slightly shocked look on Sakura's face. _'Looks like I'm already slipping from my façade…'_

"I was just going to ask if you'd like to train with us."

Kakashi's overly happy voice is getting on Sasuke's nerves, and the suggestion he made angers Sasuke even more. He takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself down. Kakashi is doing this on purpose.

"There are four people on your team already", Sasuke says, trying his best to maintain his voice emotionless. "So there is no need for me."

"Is that the only reason why not?" Kakashi's voice is still too happy to be normal.

"What else would you want to hear?" Why is Kakashi torturing Sasuke like this? What is his goal?

"I wanted to hear if you think you are any match for them."

A small laughter escapes from Sasuke's lips. He smiles slightly at Kakashi. He feels like Sai yet again, smiling the fake smile that bounces off every glance set his way. "Is that all you wanted to hear? Me saying if I can beat your team?"

"Well, that too", Kakashi says, smiling in the same manner as Sasuke. It is as if they are having a battle of smiles. "But first of all I'd like to hear who you are."

"I am Shiroyama Hiroshi, haven't I told that to you already."

Kakashi's grin fades away. He glares at Sasuke, not with hatred, but with a look that is nowhere near the overfriendly one. And the height difference between the standing Kakashi and sitting Sasuke gives even more power to his glare.

Sasuke continues smiling. "Please leave me alone." He can be this calm, covering his real emotions with the smile only because _he_ and Naruto are still fighting together, not caring at all about the others. That is the reason why he is still sitting there with Team 7, risking his already weak Hiroshi façade. If they had stopped their fight and only followed the scene with him and Kakashi, Sasuke probably would have lost his calm and attacked Kakashi just to prove his strenght.

"Sai and Sakura, you're next. Get ready."

"Yes…" Sakura's voice fades away as if she is afraid she would say something else. Her eyes are on Sasuke, and they are curious, but Sasuke knows she won't asks a thing unless Hiroshi would say he is ready to tell everything. She has become such a sweet lady.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei", Sai says and smiles. Sasuke looks at him, he studies his small smile and closed eyes. If Sasuke didn't know better, he would have never noticed that smile is not real. But when Sai really smiles, his mouth would always open. No matter how much, but it would open. And those who spent time with him had learned the difference.

It is strange how Sai, even after all these years they had been trying to teach him emotions and how to act with people, still wore that fake smile all the time and blurted out things without thinking twice.

"Hello, Hiroshi-kun", Sai says as he notices Sasuke is looking at him. "Do you want something?"

"No, nothing at all, Sai-kun", Sasuke answers with almost identical smile. "I was just deep in my thoughts."

"May I ask what were you thinking about?"

"You may ask, but I won't give you any answer."

"Oh", Sai says and gives Sasuke a surprised look. "Can you do that?"

"Yes I can."

"Seriously guys, that's scary."

Sasuke does all he can to keep his smile on place.

Naruto walks to them, only slightly out of breath and grinning, followed closely by _him_. Naruto sits down, right next to Sasuke. Sasuke's heart loses its rhythym.

"Sai, you sure he isn't your long lost brother?"

"Oh no, my brother is dead", Sai says, perfectly serious. He hadn't realized Naruto's remark was a joke. "I must go now, it's me and Sakura's turn." He stands up and leaves, leaving Sasuke alone with Naruto and _him_.

Then _he_ sits down to the other side of Sasuke, and Sasuke feels like his heart could stop permanently any moment. "It's as if you're surrounding me so I can't escape", he laughs shortly. He feels the heat from their bodies mixing with his own. It is intoxicating.

"Why would you want to escape?" _he_ asks silently. _He_ doesn't look at Sasuke, because _his_ eyes are closed and _he_ is leaning against the tree trunk

"I have no reason", Sasuke says and doesn't dare to lift his eyes from Naruto's shoes. "But I have noticed I have a habit of running away."

"Shannaroo!" Sakura yells near in her fight with Sai, and Sasuke feels the earth shake. Or he could be imagining things.

"She's strong", he says and turns his head to look at their fight. They seem to be enjoying themselves. They both have a smile on their faces, Sakura as she lands kicks on Sai, and Sai as he dodges them gracefully. Sasuke sees his pearl white teeth and feels a slight jolt in his heart.

"But not nearly as strong as you, I assume?"

The silent and seemingly happy sentence drains all colour from Sasuke's face.

"Shut up!" he hisses more angrily than what he meant to. He hasn't lifted his eyes from Naruto's shoes. He wants to save the last bit of courage he still has left, and he knows that if he lifted his gaze to meet Naruto's, he would crumble.

_'Maybe it would be the easy way out of here...'  
_

But even worse, he soon feels Kakashi bent right next to him, his only visible eye trying to burn a hole into his head.

"Where's your hitai-ate?"

Sasuke is silent. Yes, Kakashi is right. Where is it? He doesn't remember. Maybe on the table in his room, maybe laying on the floor. Maybe he has lost it somewhere here, in this time. He doesn't know. One of his most precious posessions and he doesn't know where it is.

_I don't know_, Sasuke is tempted to answer, but he holds his tongue. Whatever he would say would only raise Kakashi's suspicions and kill off the last bits of trust Naruto has towards Hiroshi.

"What makes you think he has one?"

Sasuke's thoughts freeze to the spot. He is still not lifting his eyes, but he can feel every gaze on Naruto. Even Sakura and Sai must be looking at him, because the noises from their battle have died away.

"Why do you think he's a ninja?" Naruto repeats.

"Why do you think he's not?" Kakashi asks, slightly amused, slightly irritated. "You saw what he is made of."

Sasuke clenches his fists but doesn't lift his eyes.

"Yeah, but still…" Naruto's voice fades away.

For a moment no one says anything. Sasuke knows why. Kakashi has won this round. He has silenced his team's protests about Hiroshi.

And on top of all, Sasuke feels a sudden weakness taking over him. His stomach is so empty it hurts. He tries his best to keep it silent, to keep the growl away. It would be even worse to embarrass himself in front of them.

"I should go", he says apologetically, which is very Hiroshi, although really he wants to only storm away without another word. Sasuke stands up silently, avoiding everyone's eyes. Especially _his_.

"Won't you even stay and have lunch with us?" Sakura asks with a soft tone. Sasuke can hear she is worried of Hiroshi.

Just as Sasuke opens his mouth to answer 'no', he hears a growl from his stomach.

Naruto bursts out laughing. "There's no way you can say 'no' now."

Sasuke blushes a vivid red and quickly sits to the ground again, bowing his head to Team 7. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your day like this…" Strangely, he feels easy bowing and apologizing to them.

"It's fine."

Slowly Sasuke lifts his head and looks deep into _his_ black eyes. _Stop that_, they say, _that's not what you are_.

_'You're wrong'_, Sasuke thinks and forces a smile on his face. _'This is me now, defeated, unbalanced, in the wrong place. Slowly, slowly I am becoming Hiroshi...'_

Sasuke's stomach growls again and his blush deepens. "Sorry."

"You can have my lunch."

Sasuke, Sakura, Sai and Naruto all turn to look at Kakashi. _He_ doesn't bother. _He_ probably knows everything already.

Kakashi's eyes are calm and Sasuke can't read them. "Y'know – " Kakashi starts but stops and starts another sentence. Only the slight chage in tone reveals that it is not just a continuation. "You look like you're gonna die in a minute if you don't get any food."

"I surely hope we have the same taste in food", Sasuke says, fake smile in place and bows his head shortly. "Thank you, Hatake Kakashi."

"You're welcome." Sasuke takes a note that Kakashi doesn't say his name like Sasuke had said his.

_'He must have grown to hate it already…'_


	7. Stay home tonight

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's (except for this chapter's four sidecharacters.)

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait, I've been struggling to make this a good chapter, but I didn't have a proper inspiration and I also suffered a burnout of some kind. But, here is the new chapter finally.

Helen: Thanks for your comment; I'll keep that in mind from now on. Hopefully this'll turn out a better fic then.

* * *

**Sixth chapter – Stay home tonight.**

"Hello Ayako."

The woman turns around as she hears her name and almost shrieks when she sees Sasuke. "Hiroshi! What are you doing here?"

"I came to work."

"But you were supposed to have a day off today."

Sasuke shrugs and sits to his favourite ladder-stool combination. "You said I could have a day off if I wanted."

Ayako pouts and glares at the same time. A cute mix if Sasuke is asked. "Fine then", she says. "But you'll be doing nothing for the most time. And no coughing in the food!" she warns before disappearing behind the curtain to serve her customers.

Sasuke sighs, but out of delight more than anything. No matter how much he might hate people ordering him around, said by Ayako in a time like this it is only comforting.

Team 7 had left for their mission about an hour ago.

Sasuke had seen them to the gates, partly because he had had nothing better to do, partly because he wanted to take a long last look of Naruto.

Sakura, Sai and Naruto had been their usual selves. Kakashi had avoided talking to him, but had sent glares to cover for that. And _he_ hadn't said a word to Sasuke either, until _he_ had passed him on their way out:

"Stay home tonight."

'_What home?'_ Sasuke had wanted to ask, but had kept silent. But _he_ had seen the question in his eyes and had glared before turning away.

And somehow Sasuke had liked it. He had liked to see that although he himself is all messed up and ready to give up, this another Sasuke is as hateful as ever.

Sasuke shudders slightly at this new way of thinking about _him_. He shakes his head forcefully and tries to forget about it.

"Hey, Hiroshi." Ayako steps back to the kitchen with a cheeky grin on her face. "You serving them since you're here already."

"Roger."

Ayako turns to prepare the ramen, all the while humming to herself.

"What's with the happy mood?" Sasuke asks as he steps down from his stool to find clean bowls.

"Why, can't I be happy without a reason?"

"Well sure, but today you happen to sound quite malicious."

"Oh shut up and serve our customers!" Ayako gives Sasuke the tray with steaming bowls of ramen and pushes him through the curtain.

"Oh my god!"

Now Sasuke finally inderstands Ayako's grin. _'Damn.'_

"So handsome…"

The four girls at the counter stare at Sasuke dreamily.

Sasuke sighs and places the ramen before them. He could just serve them and then go back to the kitchen and sits down and worry about _him_. Or he could try to stand these girls as long as he can in order to expand his ability to face irritating situations.

'_What would Hiroshi do?'_

So Sasuke smiles at the girls and takes the only chair on his side of the counter and sits down. "Mind if I join you?" he asks, smiling in a way that would melt every girl.

"S-sure", the only red head of the girls stutters.

"Are you sure you want to see us eat?" a blonde one with short hair asks.

"What would be better than see that you enjoy our ramen", Sasuke answers smiling.

All of the girls blush.

In his mind Sasuke shudders in slight disgust. Rather than spending time with these new Hiroshi fangirls he would want to be sparring right now. And with Naruto, who else…

"Hey, what's wrong?" the third girl asks, worry in her sparkling blue eyes that remind Sasuke of Naruto's.

"You suddenly spaced out", the blonde one says to Sasuke's questioning stare.

"Nothing, I was only thinking."

The fourth girl with dark features who had not yet said a word glances at Sasuke and gives him a smile, blushing furiously. Sasuke smiles at her. She seems the most tolerable one out of these four, she too reminding Sasuke of someone…

"Oh, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet", the blonde says. "We just started talking to you like we're already familiar with you. I'm Miki." She smiles brightly.

"I'm Akiko, nice to meet you", the red head says with a small blush covering her cheeks.

"Perfect name for you", Sasuke says, meaning what he said. The girl does remind him of autumn.

The blue eyed one grins, and again Sasuke thinks of Naruto. "I'm Chiyuko."

"I'm… Chihiro. Nice to meet you…" the shy, dark girl says, her head lowered.

"Nice to meet you all, Miki, Akiko, Chiyuko, Chihiro", Sasuke glances at each girl in turn, smiling. "I'm Hiroshi. Please bear with my sudden space outs." In his mind, Sasuke is thinking something exactly the opposite, although he has to admit that these girls aren't as bad as the ones back in Academy…

Akiko blushes as red as her hair. "Could I have seconds, please", she asks, looking ashamed.

"Of course", Sasuke says, and is ready to go make her one when Ayako suddenly comes put behind the curtain that separates the kitchen and the counter.

"Here you go", Ayako smiles and places the steaming cup in front of Akiko.

Sasuke twitches. Ayako and her psychic powers might drive Sasuke crazy sooner than this whole freaky adventure itself.

The girls seem surprised except for Akiko who immediately takes her first mouthful. "Seriously, Ayako, your ramen is the best."

"And I thought you only came here for Hiroshi", Ayako says matter-of-factly.

All the girls bush once again and Akiko almost chokes on her ramen.

"Hey, it's Chiyuko who heard there's a good looking guy working here and wanted to see him, not me!" Akiko claims loudly.

"But Miki's the one who dragged us here!" Chiyuko says.

Chihiro blushes in embarrassment and turns to look at Sasuke. "Um, Hiroshi, I'm sorry. I hope this doesn't bother you..."

Sasuke shrugs, smiling in a comforting way to her. He really does not mind, as long as they don't attack him. And maybe, if that happened, he would turn it into survival training… "It doesn't bother me. As long as it doesn't turn serious."

"Yeah, he's already taken", Ayako informs.

Miki's smile turns upside down. "Damn. I already planned names for our kids…"

Sasuke twitches slightly, but tries to smile along with the laughing girls.

"Gosh, Miki!" Akiko gasps.

"What were their names?" Chiyuko asks.

Sasuke lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. It seems like he can manage a day without Naruto, even with such fangirls following him.

He looks at the sky, wondering where Team 7 would be right now. Where Naruto is right now…

* * *

It had suddenly become dark, but the air is still warm.

Sasuke stares at the gate that leads to the Uchiha grounds, glaring at it as if he tries to burn a hole to it with his eyes.

_Stay home tonight._ Had_ he _been serious?

Of course _he_ had been! Sasuke would never joke like that.

Then again, _he_ is not like Sasuke…

But whatever his motive is, Sasuke decides to take his offer. Breathing deeply he opens the gate, his steps suddenly becoming heavy. He stops at the entrance, staring at the dead silent garden. It looks only slightly different than it would three years from now on.

Sasuke takes one step, then stops to listen. There wouldn't be traps, would there? No, he rarely bothered to put up such, as they wouldn't help much against his real enemies. There are only such that warn him of intruders.

Another step, then another, another, until Sasuke realizes he is already at the door of the main house. Nothing had happened. Nothing _should_ have happened, but somehow Sasuke had been expecting there to be a trap that would have been so well made he could have only barely dodged it.

But even as he opens the door and steps into the dark, cool house, nothing happens.

He feels like smiling. To learn that this hadn't been a trap to lure him into his death set by the another Sasuke eases his heart more than he would have wanted to.

But he really can't be this concerned about them being alike, can he?

Wasn't it supposed to be only Naruto?

The door is still open, mirroring Sasuke's own thoughts. He is still on the verge of staying or leaving. Choosing _his_ offer and the possible consequences, or choosing his freedom and all the trouble it seems to bring along.

Sasuke stares into the darkness of the hall, at the lonely chair standing there.

Silently he closes the door.


	8. Sadness

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

* * *

**Seventh chapter – Sadness  
**

The first, white rays of sun shine in through the small gap between the worn out curtains.

Sasuke is sleeping on the only bed in the room, the only bed in the whole house that is not covered in thick dust.

Another man is standing on the doorway, his hand resting on the doorframe, other holding a short katana.

"I'm home", the young man says quietly, no emotions visible on his voice or on his face. His hand is steady as he walks up to the bed where Sasuke is laying. Only when the man is three steps away does Sasuke move slightly. But still he doesn't wake up.

The man takes another step. A silence falls over the room.

"I know you're awake."

Sasuke doesn't respond.

"I know you are", the man continues his monologue. "You woke up when I first entered this room."

"What were you going to do?"

Sasuke opens his eyes suddenly and stares at _him_.

"Test you", _he_ says as if it is the most common thing to do.

They stare at each other in the dark of the room. The _he_ puts his katana back to its scabbard.

Sasuke stares at him, then turns his eyes away and doesn't give him any more glances as he pushes up from the bed. The covers slide and reveal his clothed torso.

_He _isn't looking at him. _He_ has already turned to the door.

"I'll make breakfast."

Sasuke didn't need _his_ words to know what _he_ would do. But _he_ did.

The look in _his_ eyes as _he_ left was unreadable mix of uncertainty and fear that _he_ tried to cover up from Sasuke.

But Sasuke wasn't even looking at _him_. His eyes were located at the small gap between the badly closed curtains where the only light comes into the room. He looks relaxed. He had been able to read _him_. He feels like this is going to be a fine day compared to the two previous ones.

* * *

Drying his hair with a plain white towel Sasuke steps into the bright kitchen. A smell of perfectly cooked curry fills his nostrils.

_He_ glances once at Sasuke before turning back to _his_ breakfast. _He_ has set another plate with so much food on it it should be called a lunch.

Sasuke sits to the chair next to _him_ and notices _he_ hasn't started yet. He smiles.

"Itadakimasu", they both say in unison, and dug into their food.

Sasuke didn't miss the glance _he_ gave.

Neither one of them tries to build up a conversation. They know each other too well.

Sasuke savours the rich taste of the curry on his tongue and starts picking up the sliced tomatoes he had saved last. _He_ does exactly same, and as their gazes lock for a moment, _he_ blushes and stuffs another piece in _his_ mouth.

Sasuke smiles softly as he stands up to go take another portion. How could he have felt almost scared of this another one at first? There is nothing to be afraid of, no need to be on guard on _his_ presence. After all, _he_ is only a young Sasuke…

Before sitting down, Sasuke stops to look at _him_, at the light shining off _his_ raven locks, and he can't help it. He does the one thing he has always wanted Naruto to do to him; he touches _his_ hair and lets his fingers slide through the bangs. _His_ hair is soft, and Sasuke wonders if his feels the same.

Sasuke notices _his_ hands are trembling slightly and quickly he pulls his hand back and sits down.

The silence is thick, almost suffocating around them.

Sasuke does what he can do to let them breath.

"I don't know why I am here. I don't know how."

_He_ stands up ad goes to the sink to wash _his_ plate.

"One day I just fainted and woke up here." Sasuke stops for a moment. "Maybe I have a mission here I have to fulfill before I can return."

"Maybe you have to die."

Their gazes lock again and Sasuke's heart jolts as he sees the sadness that _he_ tries to hide. But there is also something else behind the sadness that _he_ has managed to mask from Sasuke.

Sasuke doesn't want to know what the hidden feeling is. For once, he wants to live without doubts and just enjoy. This second chance is all he has got, and he has no time to ruin it.

"I have to go now."

_He_ stands at the kitchen door awkwardly, looking at Sasuke, not knowing what to do. They both have forgotten what to do when living with someone.

Sasuke searches within his memory for something to say and comes up with a phrase he learned from Ichiraku from the countless times he has been there.

"Have a nice day."

_He_ looks shocked for a moment, then a genuine smile appears on _his_ lips. _He_ turns around and leaves.

Sasuke is left alone in the Uchiha household. And despite the smile he just saw, sadness is taking over him.

_He_ looked so young. _Too_ young. _He_ reminded Sasuke of the night he had tried to hard to forget. The night when he had been left alone.

Sasuke buries his face in his hands.

He doesn't want to leave _him_ alone anymore.


	9. So much more

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N:** The end of this fic is coming closer and closer, because in next chapter Kakashi will find something out...

But sorry for the long wait, I hope you like this chapter though it is a bit short.

* * *

**Eighth chapter – So much more**

"Good morning, Ayako."

Sasuke steps into Ichiraku's kitchen, his head bowed, but still on guard. There is another man in the kitchen, and the minute Sasuke had stepped in, the man became alert.

"Oh, hello Hiroshi", Ayako chirps. "I want to introduce you to someone." She grabs the man by his shoulders and practically shoves him into Sasuke's face. "This is my fiance, Shinichi."

"Uh…" Shinichi stutters and takes a step back to retain his balance. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tokunoba Shinichi."

Sasuke stares at the man, trying to steady his thumping heart. Tokunoba Shinichi's eyes are the second brightest blue he has ever seen. "I'm Shiroyama Hiroshi. Nice to meet you."

But they are nothing compared to Naruto's.

Slowly Sasuke tears his eyes away from Shinichi's and turns to gaze at the small gap on the curtain that separates the kitchen and the customer area. Suddenly, without warning, he wants to see Naruto.

"Hiroshi?"

Sasuke blinks and turns to look at Ayako, and for a moment his brows knot in an angry frown. Then it is gone and he smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry. His eyes just…" He turns again to look outside, as if having his eyes locked on the piece of blue sky he sees could bring his own Naruto here.

But it can never happen.

"Does Nakatsu have blue eyes?"

Sasuke glances at Ayako. He nods slowly, trying to form his love into words inside his head. "The bluest eyes there can be. Hair like sunshine. And his smile…" Sasuke stops. How could he describe Naruto's smile with only words? It is much more, so much more. It is the warmth that Sasuke feels when Naruto smiles, the jolt in his heart, the feeling that Naruto is smiling only for him. "He's… sun."

A rustle in front of Ichiraku takes Sasuke's attention and he slips through the curtain to serve the customers. But he is not nearly far enough to miss Shinichi's next words.

"I thought Naruto was Uzumaki, not Nakatsu."

* * *

"You know, Kakashi-sensei, I think you're taking out your anger about Hiroshi on us by making us train this much."

"Oh?" Kakashi glances at Sakura, clearly amused.

"It is all your stupid male pride's fault", Sakura says as they walk their usual route to Ichiraku. This time no one had suggested going there. They didn't need to. It seems as if after Hiroshi's arrival they had made a silent agreement to go there as often as they could.

They all have their reasons. Naruto simply wants raamen. Kakashi wants to know who exactly Hiroshi is. Sakura wants to enjoy his good looks and nice company. So does Sai, and it seems as if he might have got a small crush on Hiroshi.

Only Sasuke is a mystery.

"Male pride?" Sai repeats.

"Yes. Stupid male pride makes them compete over every stupid thing and show each other", Sakura growls.

"It's not about my pride", Kakashi protests. "I simply want to know who he is."

"Shiroyama Hiroshi. Haven't you heard that enough already?" Naruto butts in.

Kakashi gives him a blank stare. Naruto grins and slows down, now walking besides Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke. What's the deal between you and Hiroshi?"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asks seemingly indifferently, but Naruto can hear his tone.

"I mean, the way you woke him up yesterday."

"I only scared him with a few well chosen words."

"And anyways", Naruto ignores Sasuke's comment, "the way you sometimes act looks like you know each other so well." He laughs quickly just as they arrive at Ichiraku's. "I'm almost jealous."

"I don't know him", Sasuke says and turns away from Naruto. Sakura notes the slight pink tint on his cheecks, but says nothing, only smiles to herself.

"Hey, Ayako, Hiroshi!" Naruto shouts out his greetings and their orders right after.

"I see you're back. And still alive", Ayako smiles at them.

"It was just a regular mission", Sakura says. "If we had even got wounded there, we should go back to the academy straight away."

"Well I have no idea how you ninjas work", Ayako laughs. "Except for all those stories Naruto tells, but they might no all be true…"

"Hey, don't you too start!" Naruto laughs.

Sakura isn't listening anymore. She saw how Ayako's eyes never left Naruto, how they stuck on him, studying his face closely. She frowns. What is going on with Ayako?

"Your orders." Hiroshi steps out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Hiroshi!" Naruto grins and waves at the man. "Nice seeing you still alive."

"I'm not that sick", Hiroshi mutters back, a small smile on his lips.

Sakura sees Ayako's gaze move between Hiroshi and Naruto, and as she sees Ayako's thoughtful face she realizes what is going on. And somehow the knowledge scares her.

Sasuke, too, has followed Ayako's gaze, but not a muscle moves on his face. He only turns his eyes to his raamen.

Hiroshi looks at Sasuke and smiles his usual smile, and now Sakura sees something behind the smile, and finally she is starting to understand Kakashi.

Hiroshi is something so much more than what he claims he is.


	10. I don't want to know

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait, but this chapter was so hard to write. I'm just waiting for the next chapter, which I hope will have more description… And the POV at the end was added just today 'cause this seemed quite short and I think it fits with this chap, so… Please enjoy!

* * *

**Ninth chapter – I don't want to know**

"Hiroshi-kun!" Kakashi chirps to Hiroshi and leans slightly over the disk.

Hiroshi smiles kindly to him. "Yes?" Now Sakura sees anger behind his smile, and she feels like suddenly there are shadows lurking everywhere. She turns her gaze away.

"I have a surprise for you." Kakashi smiles widely. Then suddenly, in the blink of an eye he has slammed his hand to the table and a small cloud of smoke appears.

Hiroshi's eyes widen and his body seems to freeze to its place.

"Long time no see. Didn't know you worked in Ichiraku nowadays. Didn't ninja work pay enough?" Pakkun grins his dog grin at Hiroshi, who is still only staring at Pakkun, not even noticing the confused looks he gets from Sakura, Naruto and Ayako. Kakashi and Sai are watching this encounter with blank faces.

Something glints in the sun, and suddenly there is a katana right next to Pakkun's neck, the cool metal digging slightly into Pakkun's skin.

"Leave", Hiroshi hisses, and now the silent anger behind his constant smile has shown. But he isn't glaring at Pakkun but Kakashi.

"Hey, what's wrong? Can't I make a few jokes – " Pakkun's sentence stops suddenly and his eyes widen. Hiroshi had moved his katana closer, and blood is dripping from a slash on Pakkun's neck. But Pakkun doesn't seem to even notice it. The small moment when his nose realized what is going on went unnoticed by all.

"Leave", Hiroshi repeats, still glaring at Kakashi.

"Pakkun, leave", Kakashi says quietly, his gaze leaving the trail of blood on Pakkun to stare at Hiroshi.

Pakkun gives a quick sideways glance to the side where Sasuke is sitting, his brow slightly frowned, the he is gone as fast as he appeared. An oppressive silence surrounds Ichiraku.

Silently Sai wipes the four drops of blood from the counter with his glove.

"Give up", Kakashi says, looking perfectly calm and his voice staying as stable as possible. Too stable to be real.

Hiroshi only gives him a cold stare, trying to fight off the victorious smile that is creeping onto his face; the smile that appeared as he realized Kakashi is scared of him.

"Hiroshi… what's going on?" Ayako's soft, fragile voice breaks the silence.

Hiroshi turns around to face Ayako, but instead of smiling he only reaches to touch her shoulder, his fingertips brushing Ayako quickly. "I'm sorry." With one big leap he jumps over the counter, a bunch of shurinken aimed at the surprised Kakashi who only managed to turn before getting pinned to the counter.

Then Hiroshi is gone.

"Damn that brat…" Kakashi mutters and tries to yank himself free. "And you, aren't you gonna help?"

"Yes!" Sakura and Naruto salute at the same time, then run to help Kakashi.

Sai looks amusedly at them, the sighs and twirls his chopsticks in his hand. "What a pity… I preferred Hiroshi way over gloomy Sasuke-kun."

"What..?" Ayako asks. She looks almost as if she is going to burst into tears any moment now.

Sasuke doesn't turn around, but his shoulders stiffen and his fist clench. "What did you say..?"

Sai only smiles to Sasuke's back, then leans closer to him. He lowers his voice so much it doesn't sound like Sai anymore. "Don't think I haven't noticed anything."

Silently, still angered, Sasuke stands up.

"Are you going after him?"

Sasuke doesn't answer Ayako'squestion. He only gives her a short glance.

Ayako's heart skips a beat and she touches her shoulder where Hiroshi's fingertips had touched her. "Sasuke…"

And just as all the shurinkens are finally off of Kakashi, Sasuke has run off to search for Hiroshi.

"Damn him…" Kakashi mutters, looking at his ruined clothes.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

"Hm?"

"What are you gonna do now?" Sakura turns to look at Kakashi. "About Hiroshi? Now you know his secret, right?"

"Depends on what it is…" Kakashi looks at his palm. His face is expressionless.

Naruto's eyes are on the direction where both Hiroshi and Sasuke left. "Why did that bastard follow him?" His voice is silent and only Sakura hears him. But Sakura doesn't know the answer, so she doesn't even open her mouth.

"Thank you for the raamen, Ayako. Are you alright?" She gives a concerned glance to the woman.

Ayako wipes her eyes quickly. "Yes, yes…"

"Should I stay with you for a while?"

"No, you don't have to. I'm ok. Just…" Ayako takes a deep breath. "If you see him, tell him… tell him…" Ayako stops for a moment and closes her eyes. "'Good luck with Nakatsu.' Please tell him that."

"We will", Sakura says. She feels like crying too, although she doesn't know why. Hiroshi didn't mean that much to her, did he?

"And Kakashi… please don't tell me anything." Ayako looks at Kakashi. "I don't want to know who he really is."

Kakashi bows shortly to her. "Then I'll get going."

"Where are you going?" Naruto asks, his eyes still locked the way where both Sasuke and Hiroshi left.

"If my presumption is right, then to the Hokage."

This turns everyone's attention back to Kakashi. Even Sai gives him a questioning look.

"And what is your presumption?" Sakura asks, looking at Kakashi's back. "Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi only stays silent, walking away. "You have the rest of the day free, ok?"

Naruto doesn't need another word. With the blink of an eye he is gone like the two others before him.

Sakura only stares after the gone males, then sighs. "I don't understand men."

"Don't you understand me?"

Sakura shakes her head slowly. "No, not even you, Sai." She turns around and leaves, giving Ayako an encouraging smile and a wave as a goodbye.

Ayako looks blankly at Sai, who feels her stare but doesn't react in any way.

"You know what's going on, don't you?"

Sai smiles at her, cocking his head cutely. "Maybe I do."

Ayako buries her head in her hands. "Then leave. I don't want to know. I don't want to..."

* * *

"Pakkun."

A small cloud of smoke appears, and Pakkun sits on the ground in front of Kakashi. He opens his mouth to ask something, but then shuts it again.

"So…" Kakashi turns to look at the blue sky. He doesn't want to face the truth, so he tries his best to come up with another options that could be.

He can't think of any.

"So, whatcha gonna do? About Sasuke and… that other Sasuke?"

Kakashi turns his head all of a sudden towards Pakkun, looking straight into his eyes. The way Pakkun had said it sounded like it didn't bother him at all, like it was something he sees every day. But the way Pakkun turns his eyes away tells otherwise.

"D'you think he's going insane?"

"I don't know."

"Do you even know how that… another got here?"

"I don't know", Kakashi repeats, feeling all strength slowly drip away from him every time he realizes he really doesn't know. "But somehow… he reminded me of Itachi."

Pakkun nods to nothing in particular. "Maybe he is searching for something to look up to, and created that… another." Then, like his suggestion had made it all clear, he adds: "He is going insane."

"Unless he already is", Kakashi says, standing up and opening the door to the Hokage Tower, thinking about the looks he had seen Sasuke and 'Hiroshi' share. He shudders.


	11. What will you do now?

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait! Yet again, I've been away in Japan and in the countryside and couldn't type this up for a month. Also, this story is nearing it's end. I think there will be only one chapter and a very short epilogue after this. And hopefully they'll be up faster than this one...

Please enjoy this confusing chapter! ; D

* * *

**Tenth chapter – What will you do now?**

'_Why did I run?'_

Sasuke is sitting on a treebranch, looking down at the ground below. He has stopped running. He is hopping someone would come and call out for him.

But there is no one coming from behind the trees, so Sasuke sits alone in the cool shadows, thinking about it all. Why did he run?

So he wouldn't be there to hear them realize it, of course. Who would want to be there, watching their cover being blown?

'_It's a surprise they didn't figure it out sooner'_, Sasuke thinks, almost humoured. _'It seems as Kakashi isn't as bright as he claims to be.'_

A bird screeches close to him, but Sasuke only stares down, towards the way that takes to Konoha. Why hadn't Naruto noticed? They had been friends for so long, they had been through so many missions, so many deaths together.

Suddenly Sasuke feels angry. Why hadn't Naruto noticed it was Sasuke? How couldn't he notice? They looked just the same!

Sasuke feels like burning the whole forest and himself with it. It would be the best choice to end this all, to get back with no more regrets. Then a presence at the ground gets his attention.

_He_ is staring up at Sasuke, looking at him with the black eyes just like Sasuke's. Their eyes are exactly alike. So why hadn't Naruto noticed?

"Sa…" _he_ whispers, but swallows the rest. _He_ steps forward, all the time looking straigh at Sasuke. _He_ stops. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke looks down at the other Sasuke, the younger version of himself. He smiles lightly, sadly at _him_. "They know."

"I didn't stay." _He_ speaks slowly and stares still at Sasuke.

Sasuke stares back at _him_, daring _him_ to turn away. _He_ doesn't.

"Take that scarf off."

Sasuke obeys quietly, tearing the red silk off, and drops it down. It falls on _his_ feet.

_He_ stomps on it, _his_ eyes locked on Sasuke's all the time. "Hiroshi is gone. What will you do now?"

"What do you want me to do?"

_He_ frowns.

Sasuke gives a quick smile and drops to the ground. "What do you want?"

"I just want… revenge", _he_ whispers, and slides _his_ fingers into Sasuke's now free hair, touching it softly like it could fade away with only a breath.

Sasuke trembles at the touch, and knows he should get away, move _his_ hands away and put an end to this all somehow. But Sasuke doesn't want to. He only wants to stand there, let _him_ touch him, let the cold wind surround them like a wall, protecting them from others, from the outer world. With this, he could forget everything. Just stand there, look _him_ in the eyes, touch _his_ face that is exactly like Sasuke's own, know every curve on it, know every thought behind those eyes…

Like mirror images, they lean closer to each other with their eyes closed.

"Sasuke! Hiroshi!"

The yell startles them both, but only Sasuke backs away, a panicked look on his face.

Naruto doesn't know. He had yelled for Hiroshi. He doesn't know.

_He_ grabs Sasuke's arm with a painfully strong hold, looking at Sasuke in the eyes. "What will you do now?"

Sasuke looks at _him_, then at the direction of Naruto's yell. He could still save everything. He could leave now, go beg Kakashi not to tell anything to Naruto, let him live without knowing the truth.

But what would it help?

"Sasuke! Hiro - !"

And now Naruto knows.

"Oi, teme, what are you..?" Naruto looks at the two Sasukes, his blue eyes so wide Sasuke has to turn away.

"He's all yours", _he_ hisses quietly and throws Sasuke at Naruto.

Sasuke stares at _him_, not knowing what to do. Should he try to be there with _him_, try to figure out what is going on behind those black eyes that always hold behind them something _he_ doesn't want to show. Or should Sasuke leave _him_ be and try to save what he can, try to still find out what he can.

A raindrop falls on Sasuke's cheek, turning his attention to the sky where dark clouds have suddenly started to gather.

"Oi, Sasuke! You just gonna leave like always?"

Sasuke turns to Naruto, thinking Naruto had talked to him, but Naruto's eyes are on someone else. On _him_.

"Yes." _He_ turns and gives Naruto a cocky smile, but Sasuke notices _his_ eyes give away a different feeling. And as _he_ looks at Sasuke, Sasuke knows what it is, and suddenly he feels disgusted. "But I trust you'll save me, won't you?" _he_ says, _his_ now hateful eyes locked on Sasuke. Then _he_ disappears into the woods and leaves Naruto and Sasuke standing in the rain.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yells and is about to go after him when Sasuke grabs his arm.

"Aren't I enough for you?" Sasuke asks, looking at Naruto, trying to stay calm under the pressure of his eyes.

Now Sasuke knows what to do. He has to go on with his plan, not care about his cover being blown, and he should just forget about _him_, forget the moments of insanity he had with _that other Sasuke_…

"You're more than enough. You at least know how to smile…" Naruto grins and takes Sasuke's hand to his own. "Let's go before we're all wet."

When Naruto starts dragging Sasuke back to his small apartment through the wild but warm rain, Sasuke feels like everything is fine now.

But Naruto's eyes looked at the woods a moment too long, and Sasuke feels stinging jealousy in his heart.

He isn't still enough for this Naruto.

* * *

Naruto's house is just like always. A bit messy but cozy, his clothes, scrolls and empty noodle cups all aroud on the floor and tables.

Sasuke looks around and smiles as he sees Naruto's old nightcap on the arm of the sofa. He sits down on the worn out seat and touches the cap carefully, as if afraid of breaking it.

"Here." Naruto appears from his small bedroom and tosses Sasuke a towel.

Sasuke looks at it and smirks. "Orange towels?"

"What else?" Naruto lifts his own towel from his eyes and sees Sasuke's smirk. "Oi, teme, don't you laugh! Don't you now orange protects from the evil?"

"Looks like it doesn't work since I'm here…" Sasuke's words turn into an unrecognizable mumble as Naruto throws his towel to his face.

"You're just a cocky bastard, not evil."

"Hn, whatever…" Sasuke mumbles and can't let go of the towel Naruto had used.

A silence falls over them as Sasuke dries his haid, watching from the corners of his eyes Naruto take his shirt off.

Nartuo notices his eyes and a grin appears on his face. "Lookin' at my enviable muscles, teme?"

Sasuke turns away and mumbles something so low Naruto doesn't catch it. Then he sneezes.

"Your cold's gonna get worse if you prance around like that." Naruto disappears in his bedroom again.

"Prance?" Sasuke asks, and dares to let himself look at the small scar on Naruto's right arm as he comes back.

"Sai learned it just last week so he used it like crazy, usually when talking about you... Got stuck." He gives Sasuke a black cloth, but doesn't let go as his eyes stay at the scar near Sasuke's collarbone. Slowly and carefully he touches it, but retreats quickly as Sasuke jumps at his touch. "Sorry. I just… you - Sasuke never lets me touch it. You – he - you claim it still hurts."

Sasuke tenses at the way Naruto had talked. He had said it like Sasuke and _him_ were the same.

Trying to bury away the fact that they _are_ the same person Sasuke shakes his head. "Sorry. I was just surprised." I hadn't hurt for many years now, but every time Naruto had touched it, his hands had felt so hot Sasuke hadn't known what else to do.

Sasuke turns to look at the cloth Naruto gave him. It is a shirt with small Uchiha crests on the sleeves. It is the shirt Sasuke used to wear a lot when he was sixteen.

But no matter how he tries, he can't remember what it is doing in Naruto's house.

Silence surrounds them until Naruto opens his mouth to ask the question he had wanted to ask for a long time now. "Who are you?"

Sasuke chuckles. "Shiroyama Hiroshi. Sure you know that?"

Naruto slaps him so hard he almost falls off the sofa. "Seriously, teme! When did you turn into such a joker?"

"Three years with you can make a difference…" Sasuke says quietly and rubs his head. He feels Naruto tense behind him, and he regrets his words.

"Three years?"

"Yes. I am nineteen." Sasuke turns to face Naruto though he is afraid his heart will jump out of his chest. "What did you think I am?"

"I dunno." Naruto shrugs. "A kagebunshin, I guess. I hadn't thought about it yet." Naruto looks deep into Sasuke's eyes, but Sasuke turns away. "So… what _exactly_ are you? A Sasuke from the future to warn us?"

"I don't know. I know I have lived your pasts and your future already, so maybe I am from there. But I don't know why I am here." Sasuke remembers his first day here, taking the major steps that lead to Ichiraku, to his plan that he had made as his mission here. His plan that had been ruined even before it had started properly working.

Naruto jumps over the sofa to Sasuke's side and slams his hands to Sasuke's legs. His eyes are shining with excitement. "Maybe you've got a mistake you gotta fix before you can leave." Naruto's voice sounds so happy it almost hurts Sasuke. "D'you remember any mistake you made around this time?"

Sasuke stares blankly at Naruto. He knows he has to do it someday, he would regret it forever if he doesn't.

"Naruto…"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of Sasuke?" The question sickens Sasuke, having to speak of himself in another person.

"What? You?"

Sasuke shakes his head. He would want to say 'yes', but he knows he shouldn't. Because no matter how much he had suddenly begun to hate that other Sasuke, this Naruto knows _him_ better. "No. _Him_."

Naruto startles at the sound of Sasuke's voice. The word 'him' had come out so different than the rest of his voice. It had come out like a poisonous word, like the name of an enemy. And just a moment ago Sasuke had wanted to always be there for _him_.

How quick the change of human mind was.

"I… why do you ask such?"

Sasuke doesn't answer. He doesn't want to admit his cowardice to Naruto. He cocks his head to other side. "Can't you answer this little question?"

"No I can't! I mean…" Naruto's eyes are big but he isn't looking at Sasuke, and without noticing it he is leaning against his hands that are resting on Sasuke's legs. "You just suddenly ask what I think of you – "

"_Him_." Sasuke spits out the word again like it is burning his mouth.

"Sasuke", Naruto says, almost like correcting him. "Aren't you Sasuke too?"

Sasuke shakes his head. "I'm not _him_. I'm not as hateful."

Naruto closes his mouth and casts his eyes down, like defeated. "It's my fault", he says. "I dragged him back, and now everybody is treating him like…"

"…like they treated you." Sasuke puts his hands on Naruto's shoulders, though they feel so hot he is afraid he would be burned. He lifts Naruto's head so he can look him in the eyes. "I don't care what the villagers think of me. They've always treated me like I'm something special, just because I'm an Uchiha. They hate me now, but soon they'll forget it and start treating me like some prince, hoping I would start a new Uchiha clan and bring power and wealth to Konoha. I hate it! The only one that matters is you. Only you… Naruto."

Sasuke feels out of breath, like he had poured out his soul with these few sentences. He has already forgotten where he is, has already forgotten all about the other Sasuke and the hateful glare _he_ had sent Sasuke's way. The only one that matters to him now is Naruto. Only Naruto.

"Sorry…" Sasuke says quietly and leans forward, touching Naruto's hot lips with his own.

"You idiot…" Naruto whispers, and the smile never leaves his lips as he wraps his arms around Sasuke. And as their lips start wandering around each other's shirtless bodies, they forget about everything else in the world.

* * *

The only sound in the room is the raindrops that splash against the window. Tsunade leans her head against her palms and looks at Kakashi, trying to figure out if the man has lost his sanity, or could he be right with his doubts.

Could it be that the suddenly appeared 'Shiroyama Hiroshi' is really only an advanced kage bunshin made by Uchiha Sasuke?

"But why would he have done it?" Tsunade asks, knowing the question means she has started to believe in the theory herself.

Kakashi wonders for a second should he speak up or not, then he admits his defeat: "I don't know." But shortly after he opens his mouth again. "But that Hiroshi reminded me of Uchiha Itachi."

The pen that Tsunade was playing with falls to the table. "Itachi?" She grabs it again and pretends like nothing happened. "Are you trying to say something?"

Kakashi shrugs. "Maybe he has just gone plain crazy."

Tsunade nods and swirls the pen around before starting to take up some notes. Kakashi had told her all he knew, and the things he had told about this 'Hiroshi' had raised Tsunade's curiosity. "Bring him to me tomorrow. I want to talk with him."

"What if he doesn't want to come?"

"Knock him unconscious and drag here." Tsunade writes the last word to her notes, and feeling Kakashi's question on its way answers it before he can even open his mouth. "I'll take care of Sasuke."


	12. Either Naruto or him

**Disclaimer: **The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N:** I hope this chapter isn't too confusing. I changed this chap completely from the raw version I had and used half a day to change all little details, adding things here and there. This chap starts with Sasuke Jr's POV, then continues with Sasuke Sr's POV. At the end I tried to bring up what Sasuke Jr thinks about this all and why he has been acting like he has around Sasuke Sr.

The epilogue will be up soon as it has already been written.

Please enjoy this last proper chapter!

* * *

**Eleventh chapter – Either Naruto or him**

The sun had already risen, not yet shining above all the roofs of Konoha. The road that leads to the apartment of Uzumaki Naruto is still rather dark, the pathway covered by tall buildings.

He is walking that way, or rather running. The younger Sasuke, the one that really belongs here in this time, and he is so shaken in his mind that he doesn't even notice the group of well-trained ninja trailing him. He only wants to see that 'Hiroshi', that older Sasuke. He hadn't been with Sasuke that night. He hadn't been anywhere else. Sasuke had checked everywhere, and only one place is left. Only one place, Naruto's place.

The closer Sasuke gets, the more he hopes he won't find the exact, though older picture of himself there. Because unlike the other Sasuke, he knows what he wants.

Finally the old door is infront of him and his fear comes true. He can sense the two chakras together behind the closed door.

Sasuke puts his hand on the doorknob, ready to open the lock with force when he notices something. An open window.

Sasuke smirks. Poor Naruto…

Blinded by his rage and by his feeling of betrayal Sasuke sneaks for the window like a shadow. But two hands, one on both shouder, stop him.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Please come with us to the Hokage."

Sasuke turns to the masked ninja, glaring at him with all his hatred. No, he couldn't miss this chance. This might be his one and only chance to make things right for them.

"No." And he jumps away from the window towards the nameless ninjas, starting his silent fight in the morning light of Konoha, all the time luring the ninjas more away from the apartment. He doesn't want to lose his element of surprise, doesn't want the two of them to wake up, no, not now.

Not now when he had finally decide what to do.

* * *

_Uchiha Sasuke. Please come with us…_

Sasuke blinks his eyes once, then again, and again, and curses the sunlight that can creep its way almost anywhere. Then he brushes his bangs off his face and chest and wonders vaguely when he had started growing hair there.

Then his memories hit him. He jumps up, and the thing that had been sleeping on him falls to his lap and growls.

Naruto.

"Oi, teme, what the hell…" Naruto mumbles, but does nothing to get up. Then he seems to realize there is nothing inbetween him and Sasuke's lower area. He, too, jumps up and tries to cover himself.

Sasuke looks at Naruto and himself and swears again. He looks around for his clothes and stands up to collect them.

"Woah."

"What?" Sasuke turns around to look at Naruto.

Naruto is leaning towards Sasuke's back, touching the red marks that cover Sasuke all around. "I bit you even here… and here", Naruto adds, sliding his finger to Sasuke's inner thigh.

Sasuke startles at the touch. "He's going to kill me…."

"Who?"

Sasuke looks at Naruto. He doesn't say a word, but the way Naruto withdraws his hand tells Sasuke Naruto understood.

Silently Sasuke pulls up his pants, and starts looking for his shirt. Naruto does the same. But before neither of them finds the rest of their clothing, someone barges in.

"Naruto, is Hiroshi – " Sakura stands in the doorway, her hand on her mouth, blocking the rest of the sentence from coming out. Sai and Kakashi stand behind her, both looking like they see situations like this every day.

Sakura's shocked expression tells Sasuke she didn't know until now, and he feels sorry for her having to witness this all.

"Hello, Hiroshi", Kakashi chirps, pushing Sai forward and wrapping his arms around Sakura. He places Sai's hand carefully on Sakura's back, moving it in soothing circles until Sai catches the idea.

Sasuke only glares at Kakashi. "What do you want?"

"The Hokage asks for you to come to her."

"So you told her about me?"

"Yes, and she's very interested to meet you."

Sasuke frowns. "What about…?" He swallows the rest, because he doesn't know how he should call _him_. Sasuke doesn't want them to find out about his hatred, although he doesn't know why.

"He's already at the Hokage's."

Sasuke alerts at this. Somehow the way Kakashi had said it tells Sasuke _he_ hadn't taken it as well as one might think.

"What did you do to him?"

Sasuke looks at Naruto who has taken an intimidating step forward.

"What did you do to him?" Naruto repeats.

Sasuke looks into Naruto's eyes, slightly darkened by his concern of _him_, and feels his heart leap. Maybe everything could turn out all right again, even after all the mistakes Sasuke made…

"Nothing", Kakashi says calmly. "But the Hokage sure did something."

"She said she'd sent ninjas after him, and they'd only attack if he attacked first", Sakura says, her pale green eyes locked on Sasuke. Her eyes seem to beg Sasuke for a confirmation that their Sasuke would be fine.

Sasuke avoids her gaze. "I'll come with you."

* * *

"Tsunade-sama." Sakura glances at Sasuke before opening the door to the Hokage's office. "We're here." But she doesn't even get through the door when she stops. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Come in, before everybody sees you", comes Tsunade's voice through the open door. She sounds tired and angry.

They walk in, Sakura first, Sai behind her, then Sasuke, then Naruto and Kakashi. And they all turn their eyes towards the thing that had caught Sakura's attention, the tied bundle on the floor.

It is _him_. The younger one who Sasuke hadn't seen since _he_ left them together in the woods last night. _He_ is tied all around, so tight _he_ can only lie on the floor like a dead body, and a blindfold is covering _his_ eyes. _He_ hasn't moved at all since they stepped in, and no one is sure is _he_ even conscious.

"Sasuke", Sakura says, the sadness in her voice betraying her calmness. "Are you alright?" She kneels besides _him_, touching _his_ shoulder lightly. "Sasuke?"

_He_ moves slightly, turning slowly towards Sakura, _his_ face turned to her. _His_ lips form a word, but no sound comes out.

Sasuke watches this all silently, trying to stay as far away from _him_ as he can in the limited space of the room. At first Sasuke was afraid he would do somethind to this Sasuke lying vulnerably on the floor, but now he can almost feel the blood rushing in his head as his hate is getting run over by another emotion.

He feels the need to protect this Sasuke once again.

"He can't speak right now", Tsunade says, her eyes locked on Sasuke. "I thought that was for the best until he has calmed down."

Tsunade doesn't say anything else. She doesn't say what _he_ did, but they can guess what has happened by the way _he_ has been tied this harshly.

"Hasn't he calmed down already?"

Immediately all eyes are on Sasuke, looking at him.

"Maybe", Tsunade says. "But I can't afford to let him run loose here." Her eyes feel like they are trying to pierce through Sasuke. "Are you willing to guarantee he won't do anything?"

Sasuke knows what that sentence meant; would he be ready to attack this Sasuke and bring _him_ down in case _he_'d lose control again.

Sasuke nods.

Tsunade looks at him and snaps her fingers. Nothing seems to happen.

Naruto chuckles. "As if there's any difference if he's muted or not."

_He_ grunts. "Shut up, dobe."

Naruto grins victoriously. "Never."

Then _he_ turns slightly, _his_ binded eyes turned towards Sasuke. A waiting silence falls over the room. But _he_ doesn't say anything, so Tsunade speaks up instead.

"Sasuke", she says and only Sasuke turns to her though her eyes are on _him_. "Did you create him?"

_He_ chuckles, suddenly amused. "Why bother with me. Why don't you ask him straight away?"

Now all the eyes are on Sasuke. He holds his cool, looking out of the window, waiting for someone to voice out the question. But as everyone stays silent he decides to start. He doesn't want the silence to continue any longer.

"As an answer to your question, Hokage-sama, he did not create me. No one here did." Sasuke shuts up, thinking hard about his next words. Yes, Sasuke had already told _him_ and Naruto how he had turned up here. But somehow, telling it to the Hokage in front of the whole team seems to ashame Sasuke. To tell them he had caught a fever because of his own stupidity. To tell them he had fallen into this insane situation because of his own weakness.

Then a question stops Sasuke's trail of thoughts.

"How old are you?" Saskura looks a bit embarrassed after asking such a question, but Sasuke smiles encouragingly at her.

"Nineteen."

"So what are you then? Someone from the future, perhaps?" Kakashi sounds amused, maybe not believing his own words at all.

Sasuke laughs out loud at him, only lightly surprised when he hears _him _laughing too, the two of them sounding exactly alike. "I'm surprised you figured it out this soon, Kakashi-sensei, considering you didn't immediately realize who I was." Sasuke sends a smile at _him_, noticing _he_ seems to notice it despite the blindfold.

"So… Sasuke", Tsunade says, trying to bore her way through Sasuke with only her eyes. "Tell us how you got here. I'm sure it is an interesting story."

"It isn't", Sasuke says, his eyes fixed on _him_, a strange sensation going through him. "One day after a mission I trained a bit too much and caught a cold. Sometime after I thought I'd be well already – "

"Of course", Naruto mutters amusedly, grinning.

"Shut up, usuratonkachi", Sasuke says and continues like nothing happened, like everyone in the room hadn't reacted to this comment to Naruto like it was the only proof of him being Uchiha Sasuke. " – but had miscalculated and fainted and when I woke up, I found myself here."

Tsunade nods, and noticing Sasuke's eyes hadn't left _him_ for a long time sighs deeply and snaps her fingers. The blindfold unties itself and the knots of the ropes open up, the rope itself slithering off around _him_ into nothingness slowly, so slowly it would drive anyone crazy. But _he _only lifts himself to a better position, and finally stands up as slowly as the rope had been, and turns to look at Naruto. _His_ black eyes shine with a strange glint.

Sasuke freezes as he sees it. He knows exactly what it means, and he takes a step forward to prevent it. Sasuke doesn't want this Naruto to get hurt.

"Uchiha!" Tsunade gets first, glaring at _him_, telling with her eyes for _him_ to stop it. "Remember what I said."

And the glint in _his_ eyes dies away slowly and _he_ turns to stare out of the window.

Tsunade speaks out again, this time addressing Sasuke. "We need to do something about you. You can't stay here forever, you know it as well as I do."

Sasuke nods, looking at _his_ back turned towards them. "But I have no idea how."

"Maybe you gotta faint again?" Naruto suggests next to him.

"Maybe you have to die", Sai says with light voice.

"Sai!" Sakura half cries, half whispers.

_He_ turns around, a wicked smile on _his_ face. "I like that idea. Don't you too, Sasuke?" _He_ underlines the name and looks at Sasuke.

"Oi, teme! What are you thinking! We can't just kill him!" Naruto shouts out.

_He_ glares at Naruto. "Why not? Just because you two –" _He_ stops and clenches _his_ fists, unable to finish his sentence. "Just because of what you two did he should stay here and ruin out lives. Is that what you want?"

"Whose lives has he ruined this far? Tell me!" Naruto shouts. They are now glaring at each other, both of their eyes flashing red, fists cleched so tight there is blood dripping onto the floor.

Sasuke only stays silent, watching their first innocent exchange of words turn into a pure fight over his life. And to be truthful, Sasuke isn't really sure which side he is on.

"He has ruined my life", _he_ hisses. "He has made me like this, unable to control myself, killing those men, almost killing _you_, all just for him!"

Everyone seems to flinch at this. Tsunade had never stated why exactly _he_ had been binded when they first entered the office, but now _he_ had said it. _He_ had killed those ninjas sent to fetch _him_.

And _he_ had been ready to kill Naruto.

All because of Sasuke.

Sasuke feels sick and angry at the same time. He can't just stay silent anymore. "Don't blame me for something you have chosen to do!" Sasuke yells, anger rising in him. "You are the one who made the first move, always staring at me when you should be looking at Naruto!"

Suddenly Sasuke feels a hand on his throat, choking him and slamming him to the wall. Sasuke hears screams and Naruto's yell for _him_ to let Sasuke go, but _his_ angry growl stops them. "It's either you or him, dobe. Are you ready to sacrifice yourself for him?" And _he_ turns again to Sasuke, leaving Naruto with an unsure expression that hurts Sasuke even more than the wound at the back of his head.

"Either Naruto or me…" Sasuke says slowly, smirking, completely limp in _his_ hold. Sasuke is sure he must have hurt some vital nerve when his head was slammed to the wall because he can't feel his legs anymore. "Why?"

"Haven't you noticed it before", _he_ whispers into Sasuke's ear. "Everytime you are near me, you can't help but come too close, do something you shouldn't. Then, when you are away from me, you start suddenly hating me…" _He _laughs silently, in a slightly bitter way. "How do you think it is for me?" _he_ continues with _his_ silent voice. "Because I just can't hate you, no matter how far away you are, no matter what you do… You have messed me up completely…"

The chirping noise in the background is getting noisier every second now, and Sasuke wonders briefly when did _he_ start the Chidori. Sasuke closes his eyes and waits for _him_ to continue.

"And it's all your fault. This is your sick, feverish imagination's entire fault. This is all your dream. Because how could any of this be real? How could any of this be really happening?" _His_ voice sounds strange, almost hysterical. "Either you or Naruto…" _he_ says again. "It must be your subconscious trying to help you decide whether you should choose Naruto or..." He stops and laughs in a strange way. "Either you or Naruto. Because I can't have you both here, I know that much. If you stay, I'm bound to do something to him sooner or later, all for you… Anything for you."

Sasuke notices the chirping noise of the Chidori isn't coming any closer to him. He opens his eyes and glares at _him_. "So kill me", Sasuke says, trying to draw hatred into his voice, trying to hate _him_, no matter how strongly he feels the pull towards _him_. The flow of the blood from the back of his head hasn't stopped, and he is starting to feel dizzy. Sasuke closes his eyes again. "Kill me."

Sasuke feels _him_ shake _his_ head infront of him, trying to clear _his_ thoughts. Sasuke laughs out loud, suddenly feeling light-headed. It must be the loss of blood, he thinks and stops laughing, glaring at _him_ once again. "Kill me."

_He_ glares back at Sasuke, finally lifting the hand that is covered by cold, blue chakra. But still _he_ is hesitating.

Sasuke growls in anger. The wound in his head is throbbing and he is sure he would faint soon.

Would it all end with that? If Sasuke just fainted, like on the day he had ended up in this place. Would Sasuke return like that, without having to force _him_ to do this.

But somehow Sasuke feels it isn't that easy. Somehow Sasuke feels he has to do this, the only thing he could do right here.

"Or are you too weak to do it, _Sasuke-kun?_" Sasuke hisses the name right into _his_ ear and notices _he _startles in disgust. "Are you too weak to kill me, too weak to protect those that matter to you. Too weak to protect the one that matters the most… Too weak for Naruto…"

_He_ glares, _his_ eyes flashing red, anger taking over.

_He_ raises _his_ hand and finally strikes.


	13. Just a dream

**Disclaimer:** The characters in this fic are Masashi Kishimoto's.

**A/N:** I hope you have enjoyed 'Re beat' this far and like this epilogue, too. I've been chanching small details of it over and over again to make it flow better, and finally I'm happy with the result. Since the start of the fic I had decided this would be how it ends, so it's not something I just thought up in haste. (**Sasukez** - This what you thought would happen?) And in case someone hasn't realized, the title is like 'repeat' only with 'beat' like in 'heartbeat'. Interesting? No? Anyways...

Thanks for all of your comments! They make me happy and made me sometimes think of what else could happen in the story. : D Reviews really do make an author's day.

Please enjoy!

* * *

**Epilogue – Just a dream**

"Sasuke! Sasuke!"

Sasuke growls. His body feels like it is burning on the cold surface he is lying on and his head feels like it could shatter at any movement or noise, and that someone shouting his name all over and over again isn't helping at all.

"Oi, teme! Answer me!"

Slowly Sasuke tries to move, tries to stand up, but he feels so heavy he gives up the idea immediately. Even his eyelids feel too heavy to open.

"Sasuke!"

"Shut up… dobe…" Sasuke mumbles and feels the terrible pounding in his head getting stronger all the time.

Suddenly he feels a pair of arms wrapping around him, lifting him from the ice-cold floor where he had lied on. It must be Naruto lifting him up, he thinks vaguely, and wonders how his right hand can hold Sasuke's weight. Soon he feels the softness of his bed under his back and guesses Naruto had lifted him back to his bed.

"You're bleeding! What the heck did you do? The minute we leave you alone you start jumping about like a – like a ninja!" Naruto sounds worried, but Sasuke can only slightly chuckle at his words.

"I _am_ a ninja…" he mumbles and finally gets his eyes open, only to be blinded by the sunlight.

"Like a _healthy_ ninja", Naruto says, and Sasuke finally sees him, although a bit blurry. He is looking past Sasuke, frowning slightly, touching Sasuke's hair and the back of his head. Sasuke flinches at the touch, but Naruto continues, now a bit more softer, turning Sasuke's head around so he can have a better look. "Damn, this is a big wound..." Naruto mumbles, and Sasuke can almost hear him chewing on his lower lip.

Sasuke can only laugh. He feels the pain in his head getting worse, but he just can't stop.

He is finally back. He is finally away from that place where everything he had tried to do had gone wrong. He is finally back in his own time, own place, with his own Naruto. He is finally away from _him_...

Sasuke pushes aside the small feeling of sadness forming in the back of his mind and tries to forget. Why should he be sad? He is now back, away from that horrible nightmare, and Naruto is finally doing the only thing Sasuke has ever wanted him to do; touching his hair ever so lightly...

It had all been just a dream. A sick nightmare made by his own feverish mind. Because what else could it be?

There is no other explanation. There can't be.

"Teme… are you ok?" Naruto asks, turning Sasuke's head once again to stare at him. "You're burning."

Sasuke feels his laugh die slowly. "Of course. I'm sick. I've got a fever. Why wouldn't I be burning?" Sasuke looks at Naruto. He finally realizes he is practically sitting on Naruto's lap and he blushes.

Naruto stares back at him like he has finally lost his mind. "Uh, ok… Sakura will come soon, she can check your brain for any damage there might be…" Naruto grins and lifts his hands again to Sasuke's head. "Should I do something about this one?"

"How bad is it?" Sasuke is only now actually realizing there _really _is a big, bloody wound on his head. Somehow he had thought it would still be the after effects of just waking up, still thinking what happened in the dream would be true... He closes his eyes at the memory of his insane dream.

"Bad, though it's not bleeding anymore", Naruto says. "It's like someone had slammed you on purpose to the floor…"

Sasuke can still remember the feeling of the hand cluthing his throat, Naruto yelling for _him_ to stop, the burning pain in his chest telling Sasuke to get closer to _him_...

"I'll go get some water to clean it up", Naruto says and stands up.

Sasuke's eyes shoot open and he winces in pain but refuses to give up to such a small amount of pain. He has been through worse. A lot worse. After all, he has died already once.

"Sasuke?" Naruto says, still standing on the side of the bed. "Are you gonna faint again if I leave you for a moment?"

"Yes", Sasuke says. "Stay."

Naruto stares at him again like he has lost his mind. "What?"

"Stay", Sasuke repeats, looking up into Naruto's blue eyes. He doesn't want to be left alone now. He wants something to keep his minds off it, off the dream he is trying his best to forget.

"So the great Uchiha Sasuke can't survive without my help…" Naruto grins widely and Sasuke lets out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "That's always nice to hear." He jumps down next to Sasuke, puts both his hands on Sasuke's shoulders and pushes him gently down to the bed.

Sasuke blushes again. He remebers what he and that younger Naruto had done.

He remembers what he had wanted to do with _him_.

Sasuke shakes his head, trying to forget, trying to wipe away the memories of _him_, the memories of those eyes that had stared at Sasuke for too long...

"Sasuke?" Naruto looks down at him with a worried expression. "You sure you're ok? You're acting all weird. Did you lose too much blood?"

Sasuke takes a deep breath, trying to clear his thoughts. "I'm ok…" _'It was only a dream. __Only a dream. There is no way I would really... with _him_... It was only a dream.' _"Just stay."


End file.
